Ruzha Smilova

The crisis of liberal democracy and the rise of populism are due to tensions within liberal democracy itself. Some blame meritocracy – the merit-based elite recruitment and rule, for the current dismal state: instead of promoting merit-based rule as fair and efficient way of bringing about better-results-democracies, it breeds inequality, distrust and frustration with how democracy works. The meritocratic principle in its relation to liberal representative democracy is the focus of the proposed study.