Sinecure
Etymology
From Medieval Latin sine cura, "without care," where cura meant the "cure of souls" — a priest’s duty to a congregation. A sinecure was originally a church office that carried an income but no parish to tend. From that ecclesiastical loophole the word spread to any paid post with no real duties attached.
noun · /SY-nih-kyoor/
A position that provides pay or status while requiring little or no actual work.
What it names
It names one of the oldest tools of power — the reward disguised as a job, used to buy loyalty without expecting labor.
Example
The ambassadorship to a tiny island turned out to be a sinecure, a comfortable thank-you for his campaign donations.
Related idea
Patronage is the broad system of handing out jobs and favors to build loyalty; a sinecure is one especially bare-faced product of it — the job that exists only to be given. Patronage is the machine; the sinecure is a part it produces.