Institutional

Revolving Door Influence

What it is

The movement of personnel between government regulatory roles and the industries they regulate, creating conflicts of interest and industry-favorable governance.

How it works

When regulators know they may soon work for the companies they oversee, they have incentive to be lenient. When industry executives become regulators, they bring industry perspectives and relationships. This creates a class of professionals whose loyalties span both sides, systematically tilting regulation toward industry interests.

Real-world examples

  • •Former pharmaceutical executives running the FDA drug approval process.
  • •Defense contractors hiring former Pentagon officials who maintain relationships with procurement decision-makers.
  • •Tech company lobbyists becoming congressional staffers who write technology legislation.

Ethical guidelines

  • ●Cooling-off periods should be mandatory and long enough to meaningfully reduce conflicts.
  • ●Lifetime bans on lobbying former agencies should be considered for senior officials.
  • ●Financial disclosure and recusal requirements must be rigorously enforced.

How to defend against it

  • ►Track the career paths of officials making decisions that affect you — databases like OpenSecrets make this possible.
  • ►Support legislation strengthening cooling-off periods and lobbying restrictions.
  • ►Demand transparency about meetings between regulators and industry representatives.

Detect Revolving Door Influence in any text

Paste any message, email, or article into our free Manipulation Detector to see if Revolving Door Influence or other techniques are being used on you.

Try the Detector FreeCreate Free Account