benign neglect
Productive hands-off approach
Benign neglect is a policy of deliberate non-intervention, allowing a situation to develop without active management.
The phrase implies that leaving something alone may produce better outcomes than interfering: The garden thrived under benign neglect.
In political contexts, it often describes government inaction toward social problems, sometimes criticized as indifference disguised as strategy: The administration's benign neglect of urban poverty drew sharp criticism.
- hands-offNot directly involved
- indifferenceLack of interest
- let beCease interfering with
- turning a blind eyeIntentionally disregarding something obvious
- look the other wayWillfully ignore misconduct
hands off approach · unschooling · rewilding · policy · laissez faire · subsidiarity · non-interventionism · passivity · let alone · nonaction · decentralization · disinterest · let sleeping dogs lie · wilderness preservation · libertarianism · tacit understanding · slight · emotional detachment
- inactioninaction, passivity, doing nothing, stillness, immobility
- nonparticipationnonparticipation, noninvolvement, noninterference, nonintervention, abstention
- turn a blind eyeignore, overlook, disregard, look away, willful blindness
benign neglectmicromanagement
Excessive supervisory control
interventionism · close supervision · paternalism · helicopter parenting · meddling
benign neglectcriminal negligence
Carelessness severe enough for prosecution
benign, neglect, benignly, benignity, benignant, neglects, neglected, neglecting, neglectful