The Party Abroad, the World of Professional Electoral and Democracy Assistance, and the Way Forward

This article presents developments around the party abroad phenomenon within the world of international democracy assistance. It provides an overview of where ‘the party abroad’ sits as a topic within the broader field of democracy assistance, and how democracy assistance providers have addressed it in the past. It argues that even though the party abroad has grown among political parties themselves, it has thus far received scant attention from democracy assistance providers. However, there are reasons to believe that the party abroad will continue to grow among political parties and that assistance providers will also include a stronger focus on the party abroad in their work in years to come.