Do they care about us? How parties get in touch with citizens abroad

In our study, we aim to analyse if parties are dominant actors in reaching citizens across borders and ensuring transnational democratic processes. Political parties are regarded as instrumental for the functioning of democracy and providing political representation. Whereas the classic types of political parties operate within national boundaries and are usually organised in branches or sections, decentralisation and migration offer opportunities for national parties to extend the democratic sphere. Studies show that there is no established party model to reach citizens living abroad but certain factors influence transnational party models. Previous research usually focused on larger parties, concluding that they are more likely to invest in transnational outreach. To date, we know little about the potential influence of other factors such as the parties’ spatial orientation (regional or national) and institutionalisation (established or non-established) on transnational party organisations. We argue that the centrality of parties as actors to link citizens with the state may is still relevant at the domestic level but their transnational influence remains more questionable. To shed light on this issue, we analyse all parties represented in the Belgian chamber of representatives (Kamer van Volksvertegenwoordigers – 12 parties) and the Dutch house of representatives (Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal - 15 parties). To examine their transnational organisations, we distinguish between the level of transnational party infrastructure and the organisational varieties of this infrastructure. To evaluate factors that influence these transnational organisations, we pay specific attention to the meso-level of analysis, while also looking at macro-level influences and micro-level factors. We are interested in a learning how party-related aspects such as size, institutionalisation and ideology, combined with regulations at the country level, such as participation and donation laws correspond with the party’s various outreach models. Across borders, we see a rather uneven pattern with parties carefully investing their resources. Reaching out to citizens is linked to the prospect of success depending on the parties’ predefined goals. This rationality-driven behaviour would also leave room for non-state organisations to connect the diaspora with domestic politics and to ensure its democratic rights. On the other hand, we argue that the results of our study could help parties to rethink their strategies to connect with citizens abroad and their organisational models across national borders.