CDI Caucus
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Introduction
The CDI Caucus, also referred to as the Free Pardes Caucus (colloquially), is a bipartisan caucus within Belhavian politics. It is most prominent as a congressional caucus in the Imperial Senate in Provisa. It expressly promotes and advocates on behalf of the Central Defense Initiative as a general protector of Free Pardes, Pardesi economic prosperity and political freedom, and Belhavian national and allied interests.
History
The CDI was created in October 1989, after escalating geopolitical tensions in Pardes' Central Ocean. Two of the three founding member-states of the CDI - the Kingdom of Belfras and Western Confederacy - were (and remain) good allies of Belhavia.
Outgoing President Julian Settas was a major proponent of the new geopolitical and mutual defense league, but informal attempts to have the Empire apply were gently rebuffed. Settas' successor and former Vice-President, Balin Tothian, was skeptical of Settas' aggressive military posturing in foreign policy by temperament and was hamstringed by a closely-divided and non-interventionist-leaning Imperial Senate.
Throughout the 1990s, while the Imperial Government was friendly and supportive of the CDI, it declined any attempt to apply. Renewed interest re-emerged in 2001, after key ally Emmeria applied and was admitted to the defense pact. Then-Imperial Senator Eli Goldman (C-Freeport) gave a passionate floor speech calling on President Adrian D'Agos and his fellow senators to push for the move. However, the resurgent Libertarian Party caucus in line with the Lib Dems and a few crossover liberal Tories defeated his resolution in the Foreign Relations Committee by a narrow 9-12 votes. He subsequently organized a bipartisan caucus in early January 2002 to advocate for the CDI and promote the Empire's admittance.
Caucus Creation and Advocacy
With the growing geopolitical crises of the 1990s and 2000s throughout Pardes, more and more leaders on the Belhavian right called for admittance to the alliance. After the January 2002 created, the caucus served as a base of advocacy and support for the CDI within the Imperial Senate and Belhavian political discourse. The rise of regional crises and wars including rogue powers such as the Papal Republic of Rodarion, Empire of Ulthrannia, Imperial Dominion of Estovakiva, among others, gathered a bipartisan following that divided the Senate along interventionism-isolationism lines, rather than partisan divisions, which created bipartisan camps that crisscrossed the three parties in the Senate chamber.
However, the caucus faced institutional obstacles in the early-to-mid-2000s. In the 103rd session of the Imperial Senate, the ruling Tories entered into a governing coalition with the third-party Libertarians. As part of the coalition, the Tories agreed to abide by their Libertarian colleagues to trim the defense budget and to avoid "foreign entanglements," which the Libertarians viewed the CDI as, regardless of its stabilizing influence and membership of Belhavian allies.
The successor of Adrian D'Agos (1997 - 2005), Jeff Arnoth (2005 - 2009), pursued domestic fiscal reforms as his administration's key agenda items, and the CDI application was put on the backburner. Later, to placate the Libertarians in a narrowly-divided Senate, Arnoth purposefully pursued a disengaged foreign policy.
This policy, in part, led Goldman to run for the Conservative Party presidential nomination in 2008, which he won, and where he narrowly won the general election, beating a hawkish, moderate Lib Dem opponent. The caucus excitedly pushed for the application in the opening days of the Goldman Administration.
However, Goldman became bogged down in domestic policy fights, and the growing libertarian Tory wing refused to consider the application. The caucus continued to sporadically raise the issue, but Goldman lacked the public support or pretext until the rise of the Romula Cooperation Organization emerged, in its proto-form in 2010 and then its current form in February 2014.
With great fanfare, Goldman submitted an application in the face of the late 2013-2014 Rodar-CDI tensions, and the CDI Assembly granted it, admitting Belhavia.
Currently, the caucus is considered a cheerleader for the CDI in the Senate and Imperial politics.
Membership (2002 - Present)
The CDI Caucus is the largest caucus by number of members as well as the largest to constitute most members of both major parties. As of September 2014, 36 of 41 Conservative Senators and 14 of 25 Liberal Democratic Senators are in the caucus. Notably, all four libertarian Tories are not members, as is an isolationist paleoconservative Tory senator, all 4 Libertarian senators, and 11 mainly antiwar/non-interventionist liberals in the Lib Dems' left-wing.
Leadership
- Adrian Kalian (C-West Dakos) - Chair
- Rebecca Stein (LD-Anaheim) - Deputy Chair