clientitis
The situation where an organization's resident in-country staff come to regard the officials and people of the host country as "clients", and thus lose touch with the norms and aims of their home country.
Noun
- The situation where an organization's resident in-country staff come to regard the officials and people of the host country as "clients", and thus lose touch with the norms and aims of their home country.
- Their relationship with the governments in their region is usually one of warmth and understanding, often described as “clientitis” or “clientism.” - 1990, Iain Guest, Behind the Disappearances: Argentina's Dirty War...
- We also learned two new words: “clientitis” and “ambassadoritis”. Clientitis is the disease of those enthralled by a host country that they promote its interests, rather than their own country's. - 2009, Vera Blinken,...
- In the case of diplomats, the State Department has had to wrestle with criticisms that regional specialists—say, those who concentrate on the Arab world and speak Arabic—will suffer from “clientitis”: the disease of...
Origin
From client + -itis.