Jakobson et al. Comparative Migration Studies (2021) 9:40 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-021-00241-5 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Open Access Institutionalization of transnationalizing political parties: the case of the Conservative People’s Party of Estonia Mari-Liis Jakobson1,2* , Tõnis Saarts2 and Leif Kalev2 * Correspondence: mari-liis.
[email protected] Abstract 1The Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area While party institutionalization research has advanced notably in the recent years, Studies, Yale University, 34 Hillhouse the institutionalization of political parties that extend their organizations abroad (i.e. Avenue, New Haven, CT 06511, USA transnationalizing parties) has remained an academically uncharted territory. This 2School of Governance, Law and Society, Tallinn University, Narva article draws on party institutionalization literature and analyses the particularities of mnt 25, 10120 Tallinn, Estonia institutionalization in transnationalizing parties. The findings suggest that transnational institutionalization takes place simultaneously on multiple levels (local, national and transnational) and is distinctly interactive, placing crucial importance on the activities and responsiveness of both the central party organization as well as the extraterritorial branches. The internal dimensions of institutionalization can be notably affected by the territorially and temporally scattered nature of emigrant communities and by the sense of inclusion provided to the activists. The external dimensions of transnational institutionalization involve a wider variety of actors than institutionalization on the national level and can also be more challenging due to the more contingent socialization patterns and interest in politics of transnational migrants. Transnational institutionalization of political parties is relevant to the parties and their continuous electoral success, but also for transnational migrant communities and impact of their political participation.