Meritocratic principles of governmental officials selection: Historical aspect and modern applications

Abstract

The paper reviews historical and modern understanding of meritocracy and meritocratic approaches and practices in the application to the selection of political leaders and governmental officials. A theoretical framework of analyzing meritocracy in the modern science is also considered from the stand-point of various disciplines such as economics, political science, sociology, and as applied to the quality of human capital. Meritocratic principles of selecting candidates for positions in public service in the Western countries differ a lot from the ones used in China and Singapore. China partly revitalizes its ancient traditions of meritocracy, and partly adopts the experience of Singapore where meritocratic principles form the basis of state governance, and where the system of education is oriented at selection and training of the most capable candidates. However, in both countries meritocracy has not yet helped to solve many existing problems, and even more — it creates new concerns and challenges. Therefore, it becomes essential to discuss whether Singapore meritocratic approach is transferable to other countries.