Styles of Representation in Italy: Constituencies in the Homeland and Abroad
(2018) ECPR General Conference — Location: Hamburg (22.August.2018)
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- Abstract
- The role orientations of political representatives and candidates are a longstanding concern in studies of democratic representation. The growing number of countries which allow their citizens to candidate in homeland elections in special emigrant districts opens up interesting opportunities for understanding how international migration influence the political profile of political candidates. In this paper we draw on the paradigmatic case of Italy in order to compare the representational styles of political candidates running for office in districts in Italy and abroad. Drawing on the classification between candidates as partisans, trustees or delegates, we assess whether competing inside or outside the national boundaries affects candidates’ beliefs about how political decisions should be taken. Our assumption is that systemic differences between in-country and abroad districts are relevant for developing one of these orientations rather than another. Moreover, we argue that such differences significantly influence candidate styles’ ability to shape perceptions of distance from their voters on a set of policy issues. In order to test our hypotheses, we implement several statistical analyses combining the 2013 Italian Candidate Survey, carried out by the Italian National Election Study (ITANES), and the Transnational Political Incorporation (TRANSINCOR) Candidate Survey, an original online survey we conducted on the emigrant candidates in the 2013 Italian legislative elections.
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Østergaard-Nielsen, E., & Camatarri, S. (2018). Styles of Representation in Italy: Constituencies in the Homeland and Abroad. ECPR General Conference, Hamburg. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/237188