Today’s podcast is with John J. Park, associate professor of philosophy at California State University-Sacramento, on his new book Beyond Democracy, Toward Meritocracy (Oxford University Press, 2026).
Listen to the podcast: https://youtu.be/3e2IF6iXXrQ
In this book, Park introduces a Confucian-inspired hybrid system for the legislative branch, which fuses meritocracy with democracy. It’s called prometheocracy, which is based on Prometheus, the mythological figure who gave fire and knowledge to the people, thereby empowering them. In this model, all legislators remain democratically elected through one person, one vote, but candidates must first meet specific merit-based requirements—such as passing a criminal background check, demonstrating relevant professional experience, and holding certain educational qualifications. Just as professions like medicine, law, engineering, and academia require specialized credentials, Park posits that the most consequential public offices should demand clear standards of competence. Drawing on philosophical reasoning and empirical research in the social sciences, Beyond Democracy, Toward Meritocracy challenges the dominant democratic paradigm in the West and argues that prometheocracy possesses greater moral legitimacy.
Early Praise for Beyond Democracy, Toward Meritocracy:
“This is a fascinating and novel book, taking a brave and interesting stance on an important topic. This book offers a thorough defense of substantial merit requirements on who can run for office, in hopes that this will fix many if not all the problems of democracy. Instead of trying to fix the people who vote, it outlines a theory of how to control the quality of the people whom the people can vote for. Rather than making the people better at picking options, it reduces the options available to them.”—Jason Brennan, Georgetown University
“This book makes a valuable contribution to current debates on the nature of good political systems. Recently proposed meritocratic theories are often tailored to non-Western contexts, whereas prometheocracy is designed primarily with Western societies in mind. In light of the growing challenges facing democracy in the West, this book offers a timely and worthwhile perspective.”—Chenyang Li, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
