revolving door

plural revolving doors · alternative revolving-door

1. A door that rotates around a central pivot.
2. figurativelyA system or institution that people exit and immediately reenter.

   After the prime minister’s abrupt Downing Street statement, in which she announced that another leadership contest would be held within a week, Starmer attacked what he called “this revolving door of chaos”.

   2022 October 20, Heather Stewart, quoting Keir Starmer, “Keir Starmer renews call for immediate general election after Truss resigns”, in The Guardian

   1 more example

   Indeed, we happily condemn damaged children – at enormous expense – to hellholes like Feltham, where they are more likely to be assaulted or killed than to find an escape from the revolving doors of courts, prisons and addiction.

   2020 July 23, Chris Daw, “'A stain on national life': why are we locking up so many children?'”, in The Guardian

3. governmentA movement of personnel between roles as legislators and regulators, on the one hand, and members of the industries affected by the legislation and regulation, on the other.

   We've had 14 Secretaries of State through the revolving door in the first 23 years of this century. And the civil servants rotate through the departments with similar speed.

   2023 June 28, Anthony Smith talks to Paul Clifton, “The industry has to go back to basics”, in RAIL, number 986, page 40

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   Indeed, of all the companies in the US, Monsanto is perhaps the most notorious for the “revolving door” between its top management and the key staffers of the federal agencies that write the rules governing its products.

   2025, James Corbett, “Biotech Billionaires and GMO Doomsday”, in Reportage: Essays on the New World Order, Atlanta, Georgia: Editions Shukutou, published 2025, →ISBN, page 152, lines 19-23

4. Synonym of recidivism.

   Synonyms: recidivism