The concept identifies a career pathway, not proof of corruption. A former official may understand an agency's process without receiving special treatment, and a new public servant may bring expertise while following ethics rules. The stronger concern arises when a person participates in matters involving a financial interest, uses confidential information, promises official action in exchange for employment, or gains privileged access unavailable to meaningful competitors. Evidence of mechanism matters more than the mere fact that someone changed jobs.

Ethics systems target particular risks. Financial disclosure reveals relevant interests; recusal removes an official from a defined matter; cooling-off periods delay specified contacts after public service; post-employment restrictions can bar certain representations; procurement rules address contractors and former officials. No single safeguard eliminates every pathway, and broad rules can also discourage experienced people from entering government. The policy question is how to preserve useful expertise while protecting impartial public administration.

Keep the neighboring structures distinct. The revolving door concerns movement of people. An iron triangle concerns a durable reciprocal relationship among a committee, agency, and organized interest. An issue network is a larger, changing policy community. Agency capture is the stronger claim that a regulator persistently serves a regulated interest rather than its legal mission. A former official advising a trade association illustrates the revolving door; it supports a capture claim only if evidence shows how that relationship distorted decisions. Career movement, recurring institutional structure, and policy outcome are three separate kinds of evidence.

Video lesson: APGOV Unit 5.6 Interest Groups Influencing Policy Making in USA AP GOV and Politics