The merit system as a guarantee of stability and performance in advanced democratic societes

Abstract

This paper summarizes recent theoretical and empirical contributions in social sciences on the relevance of “quality of government” for understanding cross-country differences in citizens’ well-being. The paper explores two types of institutional factors fostering quality of government that have been systematically explored in a large number of studies. In the first place, political factors, and, in particular, how political elites are selected in a country. In the second place, bureaucratic factors, and, in particular, how public employees are selected in a country. One of the most robust findings in this literature is that meritocratic bureaucracy –understood as a non-politicized bureaucracy– has a positive and significant effect on the quality of government in advanced democracies.