Edifice complex

The term "edifice complex" was coined in the 1970s to describe Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos' practice of using publicly funded construction projects as political and election propaganda.

Built with a Brutalist architectural style, perhaps to emphasize their grandiose character, these construction projects were funded by foreign loans, allowing the incumbent Marcos administration to create an impression of progress, but instead put the Philippines through a series of debt crises. The first of the crises occurred in 1970, which many economic historians consider to have triggered the socioeconomic unrest which later led Marcos to impose martial law in 1972.

The expression has also been generalized outside of the context of Imelda and Ferdinand Marcos and the Philippines.