Making the absent present : political parties and emigrant issues in country of origin parliaments
Østergaard-Nielsen, Eva (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
Ciornei, Irina (Universität Bern)

Date:	2017
Abstract:	A growing number of countries have granted their emigrant citizens the right to vote in homeland elections from afar. Yet, there is little understanding of the extent to which emigration issues are visible in the subsequent legislative processes of policymaking and representation. Based on an original data set of parliamentary activities in Spain, Italy, France and Romania, this article analyses why political parties pay attention to emigrants. To that end, we propose a conceptual framework which draws on both theories of issue salience and substantive representation. Bridging these two frameworks allows us bring in both parties (salience) and constituencies (representation) in the analysis of the linkage between electorates and parliaments at a transnational level. We test a series of hypotheses and find that parties are more likely to focus on emigration issues the stronger their electoral incentives and in the context of electoral systems allowing the emigrants to elect special emigrant representatives.
Grants:	Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CSO2010-16535
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió acceptada per publicar
Subject:	Migration ; Parties ; Representation ; Salience ; Transnational
Published in:	Party Politics, 23 March 2017, p. 1-14, ISSN 1460-3683

DOI: 10.1177/1354068817697629

Postprint 34 p, 475.6 KB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Social and Legal Sciences > Instituto de Gobierno y Políticas Públicas (IGOP)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles