Caucus
Caucuses redirects here. You may have intended to look up CaucasusA
caucus is most generally defined as being a meeting of supporters or members of a
political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries.
In the
United States, a caucus is a meeting of local members of a
political party or subgroup to nominate candidates, plan policy, etc., in the
Congress of the United States or other similar representative organs of government.
One of the best-known examples is the
Congressional Black Caucus, a group of
African-American members of Congress. Another prominent example is the
Congressional Hispanic Caucus, whose members voice and advance issues affecting
Hispanics in the United States and
Puerto Rico.
Other examples include the caucuses used by some states to select presidential nominees, such as the
Iowa caucuses.
In early United States History, the
Congressional nominating caucus and
legislative caucus were influential meetings of congressmen to decide the party's nominee for President and legislative policy. Similar caucuses were held by the parties at state level.
In some
Commonwealth nations, a caucus is a regular meeting of all
Members of Parliament who belong to a political party. In a
Westminster System, a party caucus can be quite powerful, as it has the ability to elect or dismiss the party's parliamentary leader. The caucus also determines some matters of policy, parliamentary tactics, and disciplinary measures against disobedient MPs. In some parties (such as the
Australian Labor Party or the
New Zealand Labour Party), caucus also has the ability to elect MPs to Cabinet when the party is in government.
In
New Zealand and in the
Australian Labor Party, the term "caucus" can be used to refer to the collective group of the MPs themselves, rather than merely the meeting of these MPs. Thus, the (Australian) Federal Parliamentary Labor Party is commonly called "the Labor Caucus." The word was introduced to Australia by
King O'Malley, an American-born Labor member of the first federal Parliament in
1901, and presumably entered into New Zealand politics at a similar time. In New Zealand, the term is used by all political parties, but in Australia, it is restricted to the Labor Party. In the
Liberal and
National parties, and for all parties in the
United Kingdom and the
Republic of Ireland, the usual term is the
parliamentary party.
The usage of caucus in
Canada is similar to that of New Zealand; caucus refers to all members of a particular party elected to parliament or a
provincial legislature. In Canada, these members elect among themselves a
caucus chair who presides over their meetings and is an important figure when the party is in
opposition and an important link between
cabinet and the
backbench when the party is in
government.
The word can also be used to mean all the deputies in an assembly who come from a certain geographical or other background, for example "the Quebec caucus."
The origin of the word "caucus" is debated, although it is generally agreed that it came into use in English in the
United States. According to some sources, it comes from the
Algonquin word for "counsel,"
cau´-cau-as´u, and was probably introduced into American political usage through the
Democratic Party machine in
New York known as
Tammany Hall, which liked to use
Native American terms. Other sources claim that it derived from Medieval
Latin caucus, meaning "drinking vessel", and link it to the
Boston Club. In the
Finnish language, there is also a word,
kokous, meaning an official meeting. The existence of this word in the Finnish language supports the theory that it has European origins. It is also known that many Finns moved to the United States, more specifically to the
East Coast and the areas surrounding the
Great Lakes.
