corridors of power

Popularized by C. P. Snow in Homecomings (1956) and Corridors of Power (1964).

corridors of power pl (plural only)

1. The buildings and offices that powerful people, especially politicians, are visualised as inhabiting; (by extension) the highest tiers of government or other organisation, where important decisions are made.
   • 1956, C. P. Snow, chapter 22, in Homecomings (Strangers and Brothers):

     The official world, the corridors of power, the dilemmas of conscience and egotism—she disliked them all.

   • 2011, Alvin Y. So, “The Development of Post-Modernist Social Movements”, in Jeffrey Broadbent, Vicky Brockman, editors, East Asian Social Movements: Power, Protest, and Change in a Dynamic Region‎ (Social Sciences / Sociology), Springer, →DOI, →ISBN, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 370:

     When angry construction workers seeking unpaid wages stormed a site office in Yau Tong in July 2002, their violent clash with the police set alarm bells ringing in the corridors of power.

   • 2014 October 1, Claire Melamed, “The data revolution is coming and it will unlock the corridors of power”, in The Guardian‎:

     The “data revolution” is the idea of the moment, and it’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t think that more money, innovation and effort should be poured into counting and measuring, and that more open data can help to unlock the corridors of power.

   • 2023 January 25, Thomas Chatterton Williams, “The People Who Don’t Read Books”, in The Atlantic‎:

     He is a supposedly serious young man who was celebrated in the corridors of power not only as a financial savant but also—through his highly publicized philanthropy and conspicuous association with the “effective altruism” movement—as a moral genius.