Conference
CPP/LUCIP Colloquium 'Meritocratic democracy: A cross-cultural political theory'
- Date
- Thursday 12 September 2024
- Time
- Location
-
P.J. Veth
Nonnensteeg 1-3
2311 VJ Leiden - Room
- 0.06
The Centre of Political Philosophy and the Centre of Intercultural Philosophy are pleased to announce a talk on her new book by Dr. Elena Ziliotti, Assistant Professor of Ethics and Political Philosophy at the Delft University of Technology.
Abstract
This book offers a new theory of democracy that advances debates on democracy and political meritocracy by synthesizing the best of contemporary Western democratic theory and Confucian political theory. The general questions that this book poses, and attempts to answer, are: can findings in Western democratic theories be used to address the Confucian meritocrats’ concern for the ability of democracy to produce desirable outcomes? What is the relationship of political leaders with democracy? Can insights from Confucian political theory be used to reconceptualize how political parties in democratic societies ensure that their leaders use their power for common political goals? The answer to these questions is the theory of democracy defended in this book: meritocratic democracy. Meritocratic democracy comprises three main propositions: (a) Democratic rule is epistemically superior to meritocratic forms of government; (b) Contemporary democracies need public-spirited political leaders; (c) A system of partisan juries that preselect the candidates running for the party leadership can bring about public-spirited leadership. Meritocratic democracy opens a path for a global debate on democratic theory by exemplifying the inherent capacity of political theorization to transcend boundaries between various philosophical standpoints, and highlighting its potential for constructive reciprocal contestation.
From: https://academic.oup.com/book/57408
About
Elena Ziliotti is an Assistant Professor of Ethics and Political Philosophy at the Delft University of Technology. She works on Comparative political theory, focusing on debates in contemporary Confucian and Western political theory.She completed her PhD inPhilosophy at King’s College London and National University of Singapore Joint PhD program in 2018. After her PhD, Elena worked as an International Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Philosophy at Wuhan University and was a recipient of the 2019 China International Postdoctoral Exchange Fellowship. Her research concerns Comparative Political Theory, Western Political Theory, Contemporary Confucian Political Theory, and Democratic Theory. She is particularly interested in the role of political leaders in democracy, the concepts of political meritocracy, political and democratic leadership, political equality, and methodological issues in non-Western political theory.