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Edifice complex
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<p>The term "edifice complex" was coined in the 1970s to describe Philippine <a href="/facts/First_Lady_of_the_Philippines/WvxPkHE9">First Lady</a> <a href="/facts/Imelda_Marcos/sfXsp5nq">Imelda Marcos</a>' practice of using publicly funded construction projects as political and election propaganda. </p><p>Typically built with a <a href="/facts/Brutalist_architecture/uHvb5Ujd">Brutalist architectural style</a>, 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. 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 <a href="/facts/Martial_law_in_the_Philippines/FnPrcP7H">martial law</a> in 1972. </p><p>The expression has also been generalized outside of the context of Imelda and Ferdinand Marcos and the Philippines. </p>