Event Details

Elena Ziliotti of Delft University of Technology presents her book Meritocratic Democracy: A Cross-Cultural Political Theory, in this lunch seminar jointly hosted by Lancaster University China Centre and LU Confucius Institute

Amidst the crisis of political parties and technological changes in the media, leaders play an increasingly central role in democratic politics. Yet they remain under-examined in mainstream contemporary political theory. How can leaders contribute to democratic goals?

Elena Ziliotti’s Meritocratic Democracy brings together insights from parallel debates in Western and Confucian political theories to offer a new perspective on the function of political leaders in contemporary societies. As a Confucian-inspired approach to political leadership, meritocratic democracy points to the preconditions that politicians of all stripes must meet before occupying leadership positions within a democratic institutional framework. It argues the Confucian ideas of virtue politics (德治) and benevolence (仁) can inspire new institutional proposals to ensure political leaders work for democracy, and not against it. These proposals also demonstrate that democracy represents an optimal sociopolitical framework for realising the Confucian ideal of virtuous governance under the circumstances of modern politics.