Cadre (politics)


In political contexts a cadre consists of a small group of people. The word may also refer to a single member of such a group.

Revolutionary socialist usage

For revolutionary socialists, and some anarchists, a cadre is a group of committed, active, and experienced intellectuals who share political beliefs and participate in the revolutionary movements they see the most promise in. It can also refer to a member of said group.

Cadre policies in states

A cadre policy as a political mechanism may take one of two forms:
  1. Cadre deployment: The appointment by a government's governing party of a loyalist to an institution, as a means of circumventing public reporting-lines and bringing that institution under the control of the party, as opposed to the state. It involves the creation of a parallel power-structure to a constitution, so that party members answer first to the party and second to the public. In turn, that party advances its own interests ahead of those of the public.
  2. Cadre employment: Economic patronage dispensed to individuals, companies and agencies, by the government, not on merit but on the basis that they enjoy some political connection to the governing party.
Under cadre policies, every level of government often acts to reward loyalists with tenders and with government contracts. The African National Congress government in South Africa commonly practises this form of tenderpreneurship. Together with Black Economic Empowerment policies, cadre policy is used to address the injustices of the former apartheid system in South Africa.