[cgiles]

When you review a paper, no one knows who you are except the editor of the journal. If there are any incentives at all for the reviewer, it is not to be arsed to review at all, since it takes time and you get nothing out of it.

There is some truth to the idea that some reviewers are lazy and don't bother to examine the paper as well as they should because that takes time. But when they do that, it irritates the editor, who is trying to make an informed decision on the paper, so they get bad karma for that.

If you want to be cynical and look for community politics, you should be directing your wrath at study sections / grant review panels. That is a totally different ball game and there is a fair amount of corruption there. Peer review may be imperfect and prone to some cognitive biases, but it is not generally corrupt.