Definition
The cozy relationship between congressional committees, bureaucratic agencies, and interest groups that creates self-perpetuating policy networks resistant to reform. A love triangle where everyone wins except taxpayers.
Example Usage
The defense iron triangle—Pentagon officials, armed services committees, and defense contractors—ensures military spending never decreases, regardless of actual threats.
Origin
Political science terminology developed in the 1950s-60s to describe American policy-making patterns
Fun Fact
The iron triangle concept has been criticized as oversimplified, leading to alternative models like 'issue networks' and 'policy subsystems,' but the name is too catchy to die.
Source: Political science and public policy analysis
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