Meritocratic Representation
in Daniel Bell and Li Chenyang, eds, The East Asian Challenge for Democracy: Political Meritocracy in Comparative Perspective, Cambridge University Press, 2013, 138-60
22 Pages Posted: 9 Dec 2015
Date Written: December 4, 2015
Abstract
Can those who are appointed on the basis of merit, and who do not serve at the pleasure of the government that appoints them, count as representatives of the people? Yes, insofar as their brief, the constraints to which they are subject, and their exposure to contestation ensure that how they act in their area of responsibility is indicative of how the ought to act: in particular, how they ought to act, according to relevant, popularly endorsed standards. Such meritocratically selected authorities are designed to be representative, not in the responsive sense in which elected deputies may be representative, but in the indicative sense in which a statistical sample can be representative of a wider population.
Keywords: representation, meritocracy, China model, democracy
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation