Great read! There are definitely similar (less bloody) themes in American government today. While there may be a relatively smooth transition of power, are we truly electing leaders based on competence? Or is there a better way?
Thanks! And no I don't think anyone would argue that we have a pure meritocracy for our leader selection today, although it is a lot better than it was. I think it goes back to that line in the essay where you can't really find an objective measure of "competence". Our current system focuses on electability, which we use as a proxy for competence. The issue is that electability can include a ton of things that have nothing to do with competence (public speaking, rhetoric, appearance, etc.) and our most competent leaders are probably not very electable. But perhaps we get there one day!
Great work on this one. Never realized that drastic shift post-1600 in the Ottoman Empire.
Great read! There are definitely similar (less bloody) themes in American government today. While there may be a relatively smooth transition of power, are we truly electing leaders based on competence? Or is there a better way?
Thanks! And no I don't think anyone would argue that we have a pure meritocracy for our leader selection today, although it is a lot better than it was. I think it goes back to that line in the essay where you can't really find an objective measure of "competence". Our current system focuses on electability, which we use as a proxy for competence. The issue is that electability can include a ton of things that have nothing to do with competence (public speaking, rhetoric, appearance, etc.) and our most competent leaders are probably not very electable. But perhaps we get there one day!