Cronyism
Name(s):
Old boy networks
Political placemen
Nature
Cronyism is a specific form of in-group favoritism, the spoils system practice of partiality in awarding jobs and other advantages to friends or trusted colleagues, especially in politics and between politicians and supportive organizations. For example, cronyism occurs when appointing "cronies" to positions of authority regardless of their qualifications. This is in contrast to a meritocracy, in which appointments are made based on merit. Politically, "cronyism" is derogatorily used to imply buying and selling favors, such as votes in legislative bodies, as doing favors to organizations, or giving desirable ambassadorships to exotic places.
Source: Wikipedia
Incidence
Media coverage of President Clinton in the USA stressed the extent to which he relied on "Friends of Bill" many of whom were duly hired as White House aides. The Whitewater scandal concerning his earlier financial and political arrangements in Arkansas noted the extent to which state politics there was characterized by cozy relationships between politics and business.
Claim
Virtually every aspect of public life is now run by political placemen and cronies.
Narrower
Aggravates
Aggravated by
Strategy(ies)
Value(s)
Type
(F) Fuzzy exceptional problems