caucus - Caucuses in the United States, Caucuses in Commonwealth Nations, Origin of the term

A meeting, public or private, restricted to persons sharing a common characteristic, usually membership of a political party, held to formulate decisions or nominate candidates in forthcoming elections. It is most often applied to the USA, where the caucus-convention system is significant in selecting presidential and vice-presidential candidates, and where caucuses are the authoritative voice of the parties in Congress.

For the geographic region, see Caucasus.

A caucus is most generally defined as being a meeting of supporters or members of a political party or movement.

Caucuses in the United States

In the United States of America, 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.

In early American History, the Congressional nominating caucus and legislative caucus were influential meetings of congressmen to decide the party's nominee for President and legislative policy.

Caucuses in Commonwealth Nations

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. 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." 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. caucus refers to all members of a particular party in Parliament, including senators, 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."

Origin of the term

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.

Trivia

Some groups in society refrain in using the word caucus for the connotations of discipline it carries.