A caucus is a group or meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures.
The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to a meeting of members of a political party to nominate candidates, plan policy, etc., in the United States Congress, or other similar representative organs of government. It has spread to certain Commonwealth countries, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa, where it generally refers to a regular meeting of all members of Parliament (MPs) who belong to a parliamentary party: a party caucus may have the ability to elect or dismiss the party's parliamentary leader. The term was used historically in the United Kingdom to refer to the Liberal Party's internal system of management and control.
Etymology
The word
caucus came into use in the British colonies of North America to describe clubs or private meetings at which political matters were discussed. It is first found in reference to the
Boston Caucus of
Boston, which was established in 1719, although the name is not documented until 1760. There are three main theories for the word's origins:
[ J. L. Bell, ""Boston 1775: Colonial Boston Vocabulary: 'caucus,' part 2"]
- Native American
- James Hammond Trumbull suggested to the American Philological Association that the word comes from an Algonquian word for "counsel", cau´-cau-as´u. It might also derive from the Algonquian cawaassough, meaning an advisor, talker, or orator.
[ ''The Story of Pocahontas", Project Gutenberg]
- Drinking associations
- The American Heritage Dictionary suggests that the word possibly derives from medieval Latin caucus, meaning "drinking vessel",
[See Pub#Advent of the modern pub and Gin#History.] That caucuses were places where people drank abundantly is attested by Obadiah Benjamin Franklin Bloomfield in his autobiography: "Richard had set out hospitably ... A caucus had been accordingly held by these worthies, and it was resolved nem. con. that they should first make a drunkard of him, and then pluck him, aye, even of the last feather."
- Shipbuilding
- A third theory is that the word is a corruption of "caulkers" (i.e., persons who apply caulk), in the sense of . This derivation was suggested by John Pickering in 1816 in A Vocabulary; or, Collection of Words and Phrases Which Have Been Supposed to Be Peculiar to the U.S. of America. It was later adopted by Noah Webster and also appears in an article of 1896 on the origins of the caucus – in all cases citing the 1788 passage by William Gordon quoted below (although Gordon only mentions shipbuilding incidentally, and does not imply any direct connection with the caucus).
Early usage
The
Boston Gazette of May 5, 1760, includes an essay commenting:
The writer goes on to argue that this body's underhand attempts to influence voters are in opposition to the more laudable activities of "the old and true Corcas".
A February 1763 entry in the diary of John Adams demonstrates that the word already held its modern connotations of a "smoke-filled room" where candidates for public election were pre-selected in private:
The following month, a writer signing himself "E. J." and claiming to be "a late Member" of the Boston "Corkass", explained in greater detail how the inner circle of the "Petty Corkass" manipulated the business of the broader "Grand Corkass":
William Gordon commented in 1788:
An analogical Latin-type plural "cauci" is occasionally used.
In the United States
In United States politics and government,
caucus has several related but distinct meanings. Members of a
political party or subgroup may meet to co-ordinate members' actions, choose group policy, or nominate candidates for various offices.
Caucuses to select election candidates
There is no provision for the role of political parties in the United States Constitution. In the first two presidential elections, the Electoral College handled nominations and elections in 1789 and 1792 which selected George Washington. After that, Congressional party or a state legislature party caucus selected the party's presidential candidates. Nationally, these caucuses were replaced by the party convention starting in 1832 following the lead of the Anti-Masonic Party 1831 convention.
The term caucus is frequently used to discuss the procedures used by some states to select presidential nominees such as the Iowa caucuses, the first of the modern Partisan primary presidential election cycle, and the Texas caucuses.
Congressional caucuses
Another meaning is a sub grouping of officials with shared affinities or ethnicities who convene, often but not always to advocate, agitate, lobby or to vote collectively, on policy. At the highest level, in Congress and many state legislatures, Democratic and Republican members organize themselves into a caucus (occasionally called a "conference").
[See, e.g., U.S. House of Representatives Democratic Caucus, U.S. House of Representatives Republican Conference; U.S. Senate Democratic Caucus; U.S. Senate Republican Conference; California State Senate Democratic Caucus] There can be smaller caucuses in a legislative body, including those that are multi-partisan or even
Bicameralism. Of the many Congressional caucuses, one of the best-known 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, including
Puerto Rico. In a different vein, the Congressional Internet Caucus is a bi-partisan group of Members who wish to promote the growth and advancement of the Internet. Other congressional caucuses such as the Out of Iraq Caucus, are openly organized tendencies or political factions (within the House Democratic Caucus, in this case), and strive to achieve political goals, similar to a European "platform", but generally organized around a single issue.
In Commonwealth nations
Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa
The term is also used in certain Commonwealth nations, including
Australia,
Canada,
New Zealand and
South Africa. When used in these countries, "caucus" is more usually a collective term for all members of a party sitting in Parliament, otherwise called a parliamentary group, rather than a word for a regular meeting of these members of Parliament. Thus, the Australian Federal Parliamentary Labor Party is commonly called "the Labor Caucus".
The word was used in New Zealand from at least the 1890s, when organized political parties began to emerge: the largest of them, the Liberal Party, used it to refer to its parliamentary members.
In New Zealand, the term is now used by all political parties,
In such contexts, a party caucus can be quite powerful, as it can elect or dismiss the party's parliamentary leader. The caucus system is a departure from the Westminster tradition in giving members of the upper house a say in the election of the party leader, who may become head of government. The caucus also determines some matters of policy, parliamentary tactics, and disciplinary measures against disobedient MPs. In some parties, the caucus also has the power to elect MPs to Cabinet when the party is in government. For example, this is traditionally so in the Australian Labor Party and the New Zealand Labour Party.
United Kingdom
Historic usage
The word "caucus" had a wide currency in the United Kingdom in the late 19th century, meaning a highly structured system of management and control within a political party, equivalent to a "party machine" in the United States. It was used with specific reference to the structure of the Liberal Party. Originally a pejorative term, used by detractors of the system with overtones of corrupt American practices, the name was soon adopted by the Liberals themselves.
The system had originated at a local level in Birmingham in preparation for the 1868 general election, when, under the 1867 Reform Act, the city had been allocated three parliamentary seats, but each elector had only two votes. In order to spread votes evenly, the secretary of the Birmingham Liberal Association, William Harris (later dubbed the "father of the Caucus") devised a four-tier organizational structure (of electoral ward committees, general committee, executive committee, and management committee) through which Liberal voters in different wards could be instructed in the precise combinations in which to cast their votes.[Garvin 1932, pp. 261–62.]
Shortly afterwards the term "caucus" was applied to this system by The Times newspaper, which referred to "the 'caucus' with all its evils", and by the Conservative prime minister, Benjamin Disraeli.
Moisey Ostrogorsky devoted some nine chapters of his Democracy and the Organization of Political Parties (1902) to discussion of the development and operation of the "Caucus" in this sense.
Contemporary usage
The word "caucus" is only occasionally encountered in contemporary politics in the British Isles. In contrast to other
Anglosphere nations, it is never used for all members of a party in Parliament: the usual term for that concept, both in the UK and Ireland, is "parliamentary party".
When the term is used, it generally refers to a subgroup, faction or pressure group within a political party. For example, in 2019 the One Nation Conservatives and Blue Collar Conservatives were established as factions within the Conservative Party, both being described as "caucuses".
In organizations
In conventions, where the membership from different parts of the organization may gather, each separate group within the organization may meet prior to the convention as a caucus.
Each caucus may decide how the group would vote on various issues that may come up at the convention.
Unless the votes are made binding, however, each delegate is still free to vote in any fashion.
In alternative dispute resolution
The term
caucus is also used in
mediation,
facilitator and other forms of alternative dispute resolution to describe circumstances wherein, rather than meeting at a common table, the disputants retreat to a more private setting to process information, agree on negotiation strategy, confer privately with counsel or with the mediator, or simply gain "breathing room" after the often emotionally difficult interactions that can occur in the common area where all parties are present.
The degree to which caucuses are used can be a key defining element, and often an identifier, of the mediation model being used. For example, "facilitative mediation" tends to discourage the use of caucuses and tries to keep the parties talking at a single table, while "evaluative mediation" may allow parties to separate more often and rely on the mediator to shuttle information and offers back and forth.
[Further details in Julie MacFarlane, Dispute Resolution: Readings and Case Studies, 2003:356–62, excerpts from C. Moore, The Mediation Process, 2nd ed. 1996:319-26]
See also
External links
