A Delicate Balance. Meritocracy and Participation in Sir Stafford Cripps

Abstract

The essay takes into account the delicate relationship between meritocratic principles and participatory instances within the socialist and democratic political conception of Stafford Cripps, not always coherent and linear. In his opinion, on the one hand, the skills of deserving ruling classes were a fundamental requirement of an efficient economic policy, useful for everyone; on the other hand, these skills had to be supported by the active participation of intellectual citizens who had to have the possibility to develop and express their abilities according to the logic of equal opportunities.