rubber stamp

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

an idiom used as both noun and verb, describing a perfunctory formal approval of a decision that has already been made in practice, without genuine independent scrutiny, deliberation, or the possibility of refusal — mimicking the mechanical action of pressing a rubber stamp onto a document to mark it approved without reading it; in democratic and administrative contexts rubber-stamping is critically applied to legislative assemblies, regulatory bodies, or review committees that do not exercise independent judgement but merely ratify decisions made by an executive or dominant power; a parliament that rubber-stamps executive decisions, a board that rubber-stamps management proposals, or a judicial review process that never reverses administrative decisions can all be criticised as rubber stamps; the idiom is the opposite of robust accountability mechanisms that provide genuine scrutiny and the power to refuse or significantly modify decisions

Examples

• The opposition accused the committee of being a rubber stamp for the minister, noting it had never once rejected a department proposal.
• International aid conditionality is sometimes criticised as requiring recipient governments to rubber-stamp donor priorities rather than develop independent policy.