Daniel A. Bell, The China Model: Political Meritocracy and the Limits of Democracy

摘要

Daniel A. Bell's book, entitled The China Model, is an interesting book with a number of encouraging lines of inquiry. However, it promises more than it delivers, and Bell appears to consistently use 'meritocracy' as a euphemism for authoritarianism. Although I was open to being convinced, as I navigated through the book's easy and accessible prose, I found it extremely difficult to accept that, political meritocracy (effectively guardianship) as it is practiced in Singapore and China, is superior to liberal electoral democracy in the long run. Bell simply does not provide enough substantive evidence to support this claim, and the book comes dangerously close to resembling an insidious justification for perpetual single-party rule in regimes that might be better served by embracing fundamental liberal principles like transparency, equality, diversity, empowerment, and cooperation.