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Does clientelism pay off abroad? : Emigrant voting in Southern and Eastern Europe

Umpierrez de Reguero, Sebastián ; Finn, Victoria ; Yener-Roderburg, Inci Öykü LU orcid and Jakobson, Mari Liis (2026) In Acta Politica
Abstract
Some political parties employ clientelist practices to gain voter support. Yet as more citizens now vote from abroad, little is known about parties engaging in clientelism domestically versus transnationally. We propose parties adopt either a replication or differentiation approach, meaning they apply similar or different campaigning strategies abroad. Using a large-N sample of voter turnout in Southern and Eastern European elections, we correlate V-Dem’s index of clientelism with voter preferences to compare the effect on electoral outcomes domestically versus transnationally. We then unpack two case studies of the Croatian HDZ and Turkish AKP political parties’ practices abroad. Our findings show that on average clientelism fails to gain... (More)
Some political parties employ clientelist practices to gain voter support. Yet as more citizens now vote from abroad, little is known about parties engaging in clientelism domestically versus transnationally. We propose parties adopt either a replication or differentiation approach, meaning they apply similar or different campaigning strategies abroad. Using a large-N sample of voter turnout in Southern and Eastern European elections, we correlate V-Dem’s index of clientelism with voter preferences to compare the effect on electoral outcomes domestically versus transnationally. We then unpack two case studies of the Croatian HDZ and Turkish AKP political parties’ practices abroad. Our findings show that on average clientelism fails to gain significant voter support abroad but some targeted clientelist and non-programmatic strategies can mobilize external voters. Our study contributes to understanding political party strategies beyond state borders. (Less)
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Transnational clientelism, External voting, Non-resident citizens, Political parties abroad, Europe
in
Acta Politica
pages
21 pages
publisher
Palgrave Macmillan
external identifiers
  • scopus:105033926511
ISSN
0001-6810
DOI
10.1057/s41269-026-00413-0
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
0ed147fd-fe45-4801-962a-41d4064d5c08
date added to LUP
2026-03-08 18:57:41
date last changed
2026-05-27 13:29:12
@article{0ed147fd-fe45-4801-962a-41d4064d5c08,
  abstract     = {{Some political parties employ clientelist practices to gain voter support. Yet as more citizens now vote from abroad, little is known about parties engaging in clientelism domestically versus transnationally. We propose parties adopt either a replication or differentiation approach, meaning they apply similar or different campaigning strategies abroad. Using a large-N sample of voter turnout in Southern and Eastern European elections, we correlate V-Dem’s index of clientelism with voter preferences to compare the effect on electoral outcomes domestically versus transnationally. We then unpack two case studies of the Croatian HDZ and Turkish AKP political parties’ practices abroad. Our findings show that on average clientelism fails to gain significant voter support abroad but some targeted clientelist and non-programmatic strategies can mobilize external voters. Our study contributes to understanding political party strategies beyond state borders.}},
  author       = {{Umpierrez de Reguero, Sebastián and Finn, Victoria and Yener-Roderburg, Inci Öykü and Jakobson, Mari Liis}},
  issn         = {{0001-6810}},
  keywords     = {{Transnational clientelism; External voting; Non-resident citizens; Political parties abroad; Europe}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{03}},
  publisher    = {{Palgrave Macmillan}},
  series       = {{Acta Politica}},
  title        = {{Does clientelism pay off abroad? : Emigrant voting in Southern and Eastern Europe}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/s41269-026-00413-0}},
  doi          = {{10.1057/s41269-026-00413-0}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}