Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)

The Con­ser­v­a­tive Polit­i­cal Action Con­fer­ence (CPAC) is an annu­al event orga­nized by the Amer­i­can Con­ser­v­a­tive Union (ACU) since 1974, serv­ing as a major gath­er­ing for con­ser­v­a­tive activists, pol­i­cy­mak­ers, and politi­cians. Orig­i­nal­ly focused on pro­mot­ing con­ser­v­a­tive prin­ci­ples and can­di­dates, CPAC has evolved into a glob­al plat­form with edi­tions held in coun­tries such as Hun­gary, Japan, and Brazil, aim­ing to unite con­ser­v­a­tive move­ments world­wide. The con­fer­ence fea­tures speech­es from high-pro­file fig­ures, includ­ing for­mer U.S. pres­i­dents, and dis­cus­sions on issues like immi­gra­tion and oppo­si­tion to social­ism. In recent years, CPAC has faced crit­i­cism for embrac­ing far-right pop­ulism and exclud­ing jour­nal­ists from main­stream out­lets deemed “left-wing.” It has also been accused of tol­er­at­ing extrem­ist views among some atten­dees, rais­ing con­cerns about its role in mod­ern con­ser­vatism. The CPAC con­fer­ences have recent­ly tak­en on a greater role in the Glob­al Nation­al Con­ser­v­a­tive Alliance (GNCA) in the same way as the Nation­al Con­ser­vatism Conferences.

Ref­er­ences:

Wikipedia: CPAC
Nie­man Lab: CPAC’s Role in Con­ser­v­a­tive Politics
The Hill: CPAC Deny­ing Press Passes
Moth­er Jones: Cov­er­ing CPAC With­out Credentials