Making Meritocracy
Lessons from China and India, from Antiquity to the Present
Michael Szonyi editor Tarun Khanna editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press Inc
Published:13th Sep '22
Should be back in stock very soon
This hardback is available in another edition too:
- Paperback£27.99(9780197602478)
In Making Meritocracy, the authors explore how China and India address the challenges of promoting merit and selecting capable leaders, offering valuable insights for the world.
How do societies identify and promote merit? Enabling all individuals to realize their potential while ensuring the selection of competent leaders are fundamental challenges faced by any society. These concerns are longstanding, with scholars, educators, and political and economic elites in regions like China and India reflecting on them for centuries. The stakes have never been higher, as these nations navigate the complexities of meritocracy in a rapidly changing world.
In Making Meritocracy, authors Tarun Khanna and Michael Szonyi compile insights from over a dozen experts across various fields, including political science, history, philosophy, anthropology, economics, and applied mathematics. Together, they explore how the two most populous nations have historically and philosophically approached the concept of meritocracy. The book delves into the contemporary efforts of policymakers, educators, and private-sector leaders to foster merit-based systems today.
Additionally, the authors examine Singapore, a unique case that boasts a successful meritocracy and is home to significant Chinese and Indian populations. Both China and India look to Singapore for valuable lessons. Although the paths to building meritocracy in these countries are distinct, their shared goal of enhancing social well-being through merit-based advancement offers important insights for each other and for other nations, including affluent countries like the United States, which are currently grappling with challenges to the concept of meritocracy.
This remarkable series of essays examines the central issue of meritocracy from a broad yet complementary set of perspectives, from the historical to the contemporary and into the future. This novel and holistic approach allows for a much deeper and more nuanced understanding of this complex topic. I highly recommend this thought-provoking book as a must-read publication for both specialist and generalist readers. * Tan Chorh Chuan, University Professor and former President, National University of Singapore *
Making Meritocracy is a work of rigorous scholarship on a particularly topical and relevant subject. It examines the practice and theory of meritocracy in India and China, politically and philosophically, both in the past and at present. This collection of insightful essays by reputed scholars in the field comes when most societies face dilemmas in the making and definition of meritocracy, choices between merit and equity, and a certain populist backlash against expertise. This book deserves to be very widely read for our choices on this issue will deeply affect all of our futures. * Shivshankar Menon, Chair, Ashoka University's Centre for China Studies, and former Foreign Secretary to the Government of India *
This superb collection of essays on the theory and practice of meritocracy in China and India is a fascinating contribution to comparative politics, and to ongoing debates about the meaning of merit. Ranging across historical and contemporary attempts to allocate social roles based on talent, skill, or virtue, this volume sheds new light on some of the most urgent social and political questions of our time. Indispensable reading for anyone interested in the meritocracy debates that are raging today. * Michael Sandel, author of The Tyranny of Merit *
ISBN: 9780197602461
Dimensions: 159mm x 241mm x 25mm
Weight: 685g
394 pages