The Iron Triangle
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The Iron Triangle is an academic concept used to describe the self-serving nature of bureaucracies and the organizations or institutions that interface with and rely on them.
The Iron Triangle is often times associated with the Military-industrial complex,[1] however, it accurately describes any administrative organization, including those such as the Department of Education.[2]
The Iron Triangle is similar in some ways to Jerry Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy, which states:
In any bureaucracy, the people devoted to the benefit of the bureaucracy itself always get in control, and those dedicated to the goals the bureaucracy is supposed to accomplish have less and less influence, and sometimes are eliminated entirely.[3]