Rethinking political meritocracy : an attention-based approach / Xiao Ma

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ma, Xiao, 1988- author.

Series:

Cambridge elements. Elements in Chinese economy and governance

Cambridge elements. Elements in Chinese economy and governance, 2976-5625

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Executives--Promotions--China.

Executives.

Public officers--Promotions--China.

Public officers.

Public officers--Professional relationships--China.

Attention-seeking--China.

Attention-seeking.

Executives--Promotions.

Public officers--Promotions.

Public officers--Professional relationships.

China.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2026

Summary:

"Political meritocracy, which selects and promotes officials based on their work performance, is an important explanation for China's rapid development. While prior studies focus on territorial leaders (kuai), less attention is given to functional department leaders (tiao), whose performance is harder to measure, attribute, or compare. This Element introduces an attention-based explanation, arguing that in China's complex bureaucratic system, marked by intricate divisions of labor and information asymmetry, capturing superiors' attention is critical for official's career advancement. Through case studies and analyses of original biographical data on functional department leaders, this Element reveals: 1) Promotion likelihood correlates with officials' ability to gain superiors' attention; 2) Not all attention-seeking behaviors align with governance goals, often fostering bureaucratic issues like formalism and over-implementation. This attention-based framework tries to reconcile debates on competence versus connections in Chinese political selection and explains both the bureaucratic system's successes and its governance challenges"-- Cambridge Core

Contents:

Political meritocracy and an attention-based alternative approach

Attention and promotion

Attention and bureaucratic pathologies

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references

Online resource; title from PDF title page (Cambridge Core, viewed June 24, 2026)

Other Format:

Print version: Ma, Xiao, 1988- Rethinking political meritocracy

ISBN:

9781009502665

1009502662

9781009502702

1009502700

OCLC:

1578767420

Publisher Number:

CIPO000371124

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license