The constitutional politics of merit

This chapter focuses on the role of merit in constitutional politics as well as the way it governs contemporary societies. It is explained that although the concept of merit barely appears explicitly in constitutions, it plays a determining role in constitutional politics: in many instances, it is used as a criterion for how public and social goods, offices, power, legal status and citizenship ought to be shared, attributed or distributed. Specifically, through a critical state of the literature analysis, I explore the tensions between merit and two of the central pillars of liberal democratic constitutions: equality and democracy. I show that merit as it governs contemporary societies hinders constitutional equality and democracy instead of reinforcing them. In short, a society based on an ideal of equality and democracy cannot possibly base its constitutional conception of justice on merit without damaging its foundations.