Transnational political party
A transnational political party is a single political party with members or representatives in more than one country.
A well-known example is the Arab Baath Socialist Party, established as an Arab nationalist and socialist party aspiring to pan-Arab political union. The party's central governing body, the National Command, included representatives from its organisations in all the Arab countries where Baathists had a significant presence. Each branch of the party, in turn, had a local governing body, the Regional Command, and although practical power became centred in the Syrian and Iraqi Regional Commands and the National Command of each faction assumed an essentially symbolic role, the party split in 1966, with different factions taking control in Syria and Iraq, each faction retained a pan-Arab structure.
Another example of a transnational political party is Sinn Féin, which has 5 Members of Parliament in the United Kingdom Parliament, and 23 Teachtaí Dála in the Irish Dáil Éireann.
In a broad sense, global movements such as communism, socialism and the green movement have some transnational qualities, but in most such cases the party organization is separate in each country, with the transnational aspect being one more of consultatation and coordination (see Comintern). One notable exception to this rule is the Progressive Labor Party (United States), which views proletarian internationalism as requiring that they set up party collectives all over the globe. Some Trotskyist parties behave similarly.
List of transnational political parties
- African Democratic Rally
- African Unification Union
- Progressive Labor Party
- Free People's Movement
- European Democratic Party
- European Free Alliance
- European Green Party
- Party of the European Left
- European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party
- European People's Party
- Party of European Socialists
- Alliance for Europe of the Nations
- EUDemocrats
- Alliance des Démocrates Indépendants en Europe
- Sinn Féin
South Asia
- Jamaat-E-Islami