The Democratic Outcome State

About the Book

Distilling history and logic, this book now poses an epochal challenge. Is political meritocracy the universal solution that liberal democracy is not? All men are not equal and never will be. Yet democracy’s poetic lie on “self-evident truth that all men are created equal” has universal acceptance. Its Calvinist origins have transmuted spiritual equality into equality of consent in the government of man. The Chinese, with their meritocratic traditions, have not been bound by this leap of logic. However, a hundred and fifty years of decline had rendered its history of the meritocratic rule to a distant memory. Many fled the death spiral of its last dynasty to emerging settlements of Southeast Asia. Enduring harsh lives, descendants of these migrants would play unwitting roles in the restoration of the Chinese nation. This book unravels the conventional narratives of East Asian economic miracles, revealing surprising political meritocracies. But the logic of meritocratic rule is not an East Asian preserve. The west, too, had impressive historical successes adopting it. Boon Choo’s work will be controversial, but the logic of his arguments will reset many minds on long-held convictions.

About the Author

Born in 1962, in the old historical town of Melaka, Boon left his hometown in 1980 and received his education at Monash University in Melbourne. Boon is a Singaporean, married, with two children. His career has taken him on assignments, living and working in 8 different locations, i.e. Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, UK, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Before he started his career in the financial industry, Boon helped set up GM automotive dealerships in Asia including successful ones in China selling General Motor’s products. He later took on Global CFO role with ABN AMRO Bank in London. Returning to Asia, he worked for ABN AMRO, RBS, and ANZ as Regional Chief Operating Officer and also country Chief Operating Officer. Boon has since moved to insurance companies heading up their Asia Operations functions with companies such as MetLife and Manulife. He frequently travels to countries he writes about including the US, China, Japan, and South Korea. This has provided him with points of reference on political developments. These impressions form the basis of his book that exposes the challenge to democracy and describes its alternative, Universal Political Meritocracy.