Merit Promotion List
A viewset for viewing and editing Merit Promotions.
GET /api/sc/merit-promotions/?format=api
{ "count": 398, "next": "https://seshat-db.com/api/sc/merit-promotions/?format=api&page=2", "previous": null, "results": [ { "id": 1, "polity": { "id": 137, "name": "af_durrani_emp", "long_name": "Durrani Empire", "start_year": 1747, "end_year": 1826 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " Military skill and the fluid nature of the hierarchy in jurga meant ranks were very fluid. §REF§Saikal, Amin, <i>Modern Afghanistan: A struggle for Survival</i> pp. 22-24§REF§ This doesn't correspond to regular, institutionalized procedures for promotion based on performance." }, { "id": 2, "polity": { "id": 350, "name": "af_greco_bactrian_k", "long_name": "Greco-Bactrian Kingdom", "start_year": -256, "end_year": -125 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " May have been present earlier on but likely inferred absent by 126 BCE when the Chinese chronicler Zhang Qian visited and wasn't very impressed: \"Daxia (Bactria) is located ... south of the Gui (Oxus) river. Its people cultivate the land and have cities and houses. It has no great ruler but only a number of petty chiefs ruling the various cities. ... The capital is called the city of Lanshi (Bactra) and has a market where all sorts of goods are bought and sold.\" \"§REF§(www.cemml.colostate.edu/cultural/09476/afgh02-06enl.html)§REF§" }, { "id": 3, "polity": { "id": 129, "name": "af_hephthalite_emp", "long_name": "Hephthalite Empire", "start_year": 408, "end_year": 561 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " As a tribal confederacy, promotion was based on individual ability within the tribal structure. However, the stratification of the ruling elites seems to have taken place with increasing sedentary lifestyles, especially in India. A Chinese account states that the throne of the Hephthalites, ‘was not transmitted by inheritance but awarded to the most capable kinsman’ §REF§Litvinsky B.A.,Guang-da Zhang , and Shabani Samghabadi R. (eds)History of Civilizations of Central Asia, pp. 141-144§REF§ Does not qualify as regular, institutionalized procedures for promotion based on performance." }, { "id": 4, "polity": { "id": 127, "name": "af_kushan_emp", "long_name": "Kushan Empire", "start_year": 35, "end_year": 319 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " Professions were hereditary §REF§<a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://en.unesco.org/silkroad/sites/silkroad/files/knowledge-bank-article/vol_II%20silk%20road_cities%20and%20urban%20life%20in%20the%20kushan%20kingdom.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://en.unesco.org/silkroad/sites/silkroad/files/knowledge-bank-article/vol_II%20silk%20road_cities%20and%20urban%20life%20in%20the%20kushan%20kingdom.pdf</a> pp. 301-302§REF§" }, { "id": 5, "polity": { "id": 467, "name": "af_tocharian", "long_name": "Tocharians", "start_year": -129, "end_year": 29 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 6, "polity": { "id": 253, "name": "cn_eastern_han_dyn", "long_name": "Eastern Han Empire", "start_year": 25, "end_year": 220 }, "year_from": 25, "year_to": 150, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "present", "comment": null, "description": "\"In 107 CE, Emperor An of the Eastern Han Dynasty (r. 106-25 CE) issued an edict that proclaimed, \"I summon the excellencies and ministers, the officials of the Inner and Outer Courts, the governors of commanderies, and chancellors of the princely kingdoms to recommend one person in each of the following categories: those who are capable and good and sincere and upright, those with special powers and skills, those with political and administrative talents, those who understand the past and present, and those who are able to speak out frankly and admonish unflinchingly.\"\"§REF§(Zhao 2015, 69) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§<br>\"Some high-level government branches also tried to recruit lower-leverl government officials in a similar manner (bi zhao).\"§REF§(Zhao 2015, 69) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§<br>By the late second century bureaucratic posts \"openly sold to the highest bidder.\" §REF§(Keay 2009, 177)§REF§" }, { "id": 7, "polity": { "id": 253, "name": "cn_eastern_han_dyn", "long_name": "Eastern Han Empire", "start_year": 25, "end_year": 220 }, "year_from": 151, "year_to": 199, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "\"In 107 CE, Emperor An of the Eastern Han Dynasty (r. 106-25 CE) issued an edict that proclaimed, \"I summon the excellencies and ministers, the officials of the Inner and Outer Courts, the governors of commanderies, and chancellors of the princely kingdoms to recommend one person in each of the following categories: those who are capable and good and sincere and upright, those with special powers and skills, those with political and administrative talents, those who understand the past and present, and those who are able to speak out frankly and admonish unflinchingly.\"\"§REF§(Zhao 2015, 69) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§<br>\"Some high-level government branches also tried to recruit lower-leverl government officials in a similar manner (bi zhao).\"§REF§(Zhao 2015, 69) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§<br>By the late second century bureaucratic posts \"openly sold to the highest bidder.\" §REF§(Keay 2009, 177)§REF§" }, { "id": 8, "polity": { "id": 253, "name": "cn_eastern_han_dyn", "long_name": "Eastern Han Empire", "start_year": 25, "end_year": 220 }, "year_from": 200, "year_to": 220, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "absent", "comment": null, "description": "\"In 107 CE, Emperor An of the Eastern Han Dynasty (r. 106-25 CE) issued an edict that proclaimed, \"I summon the excellencies and ministers, the officials of the Inner and Outer Courts, the governors of commanderies, and chancellors of the princely kingdoms to recommend one person in each of the following categories: those who are capable and good and sincere and upright, those with special powers and skills, those with political and administrative talents, those who understand the past and present, and those who are able to speak out frankly and admonish unflinchingly.\"\"§REF§(Zhao 2015, 69) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§<br>\"Some high-level government branches also tried to recruit lower-leverl government officials in a similar manner (bi zhao).\"§REF§(Zhao 2015, 69) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§<br>By the late second century bureaucratic posts \"openly sold to the highest bidder.\" §REF§(Keay 2009, 177)§REF§" }, { "id": 9, "polity": { "id": 254, "name": "cn_western_jin_dyn", "long_name": "Western Jin", "start_year": 265, "end_year": 317 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "present", "comment": null, "description": " \"The problem of residence determination was first raised during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Western Jin in connection with the Nine Rank system of selecting officials. ... Another official, Li Zhong, took issue with their assessment and asserted that for all practical purposes the system of Nine Ranks had ceased to operate. He believed, however, that such a system was necessary and wanted to strengthen it through residence determination. ... Although it is not clear what became of Li's proposal, there is good reason to believe that it was adopted.\"§REF§(Crowell 1991, 187) Crowell, William G in Dien, Albert E. 1991. State and Society in Early Medieval China. Stanford University Press.§REF§<br>\"Emperor Wu clearly wished to do away with the Nine Ranks, but there was probably too much opposition from those who benefited from the system. Being unable to rid himself of it, the emperor may have sought to tighten the system in order to eliminate abuses.\"" }, { "id": 10, "polity": { "id": 471, "name": "cn_hmong_2", "long_name": "Hmong - Early Chinese", "start_year": 1895, "end_year": 1941 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " The Hmong population was subject to Chinese administrative integration even before the republican period: 'From Song on, in periods of relative peace, government control was exercised through the tusi system of indirect rule by appointed native headmen who collected taxes, organized corvée, and kept the peace. Miao filled this role in Hunan and eastern Guizhou, but farther west the rulers were often drawn from a hereditary Yi nobility, a system that lasted into the twentieth century. In Guizhou, some tusi claimed Han ancestry, but were probably drawn from the ranks of assimilated Bouyei, Dong, and Miao. Government documents refer to the \"Sheng Miao\" (raw Miao), meaning those living in areas beyond government control and not paying taxes or labor service to the state. In the sixteenth century, in the more pacified areas, the implementation of the policy of gaitu guiliu began the replacement of native rulers with regular civilian and military officials, a few of whom were drawn from assimilated minority families. Land became a commodity, creating both landlords and some freeholding peasants in the areas affected. In the Yunnan-Guizhou border area, the tusi system continued and Miao purchase of land and participation in local markets was restricted by law until the Republican period (1911-1949).' §REF§Diamond, Norma: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Miao§REF§ 'Throughout the Republican period, the government favored a policy of assimilation for the Miao and strongly discouraged expressions of ethnicity. Southwestern China came under Communist government control by 1951, and Miao participated in land reform, collectivization, and the various national political campaigns.' §REF§Diamond, Norma: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Miao§REF§ The quasi-feudal Yi nobility was rewarded with labour services performed by the Hmong tenants working their land and not subject to formal examination or promotion. Officials serving in the military and civilian administrations were likely examined and promoted on the basis of demonstrated merit, as suggested by the degree of formalization presented in primary and secondary sources: 'Like Kweiyang, the hsien city of Lung-li was in an open plain, but a narrow one. The space between the mountains was sufficient for a walled town of one long street between the east and west gates and one or two on either side. There were fields outside the city walls. Its normal population was between three and four thousand, augmented during the war by the coming of some “companies” for the installation and repair of charcoal burners in motor lorries and the distillation of grain alcohol for fuel, an Army officers' training school, and the engineers' corps of the railway being built through the town from Kwangsi to Kweiyang. To it the people of the surrounding contryside, including at least three groups of Miao and the Chung-chia, went to market. It was also the seat of the hsien government and contained a middle school, postal and telegraph offices, and a cooperative bank, with all of which the non-Chinese, as well as the Chinese, had some dealings. A few of the more well-to-do families sent one of their boys to the middle school. Cases which could not be settled in the village or by the lien pao official, who was also a Chinese, were of necessity brought to the hsien court, as well as cases which involved both Miao and Chinese.' §REF§Mickey, Margaret Portia 1947. “Cowrie Shell Miao Of Kweichow”, 40b§REF§ The administration relied on clerks and other professionals, as evidenced in primary sources: 'Article 9. The secretary of the Bureau will receive his orders from the chief of the Bureau, and will attend to such matters as the writing of official despatches of the Bureau, the keeping of the archives, and directing the copying of documents. Article 10. The clerks will receive orders from the chief of the Bureau, and, under the direction of the department head, will assist in carrying out the various duties of the department. Article 11. The copyists will receive their orders from the chief of the Bureau and the departmental heads, and, under the direction of department members and the secretary, shall be responsible for copying despatches and telegrams.' §REF§Ling, Shun-sheng, Yifu Ruey, and Lien-en Tsao 1947. “Report On An Investigation Of The Miao Of Western Hunan”, 179§REF§ We have provisionally assumed that petty officials in the military bureaucracy were subject to some form of examination and merit promotion. This is open to re-evaluation." }, { "id": 11, "polity": { "id": 245, "name": "cn_jin_spring_and_autumn", "long_name": "Jin", "start_year": -780, "end_year": -404 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "present", "comment": null, "description": " \"In respect to selecting officials, the appointment of capable and talented people emerged as a trend in the Spring and Autumn Period.\"§REF§(Zhang 2015, 143) Zhang, Qizhi. 2015. An Introduction to Chinese History and Culture. Springer.§REF§<br>\"During the Spring and Autumn Period, the powerful states such as Qin and Chu set up a new administrative system of provinces and counties in each of the places they conquered through wars of annexation. In general, counties were based in the center of the state, while provinces were based in the outlying areas. The governorships of the provinces and counties were no longer hereditary positions. Rather governors were appointed and dismissed directly by the kings or lords. These governors in the provinces and counties comprised the first bureaucracy in Chinese history.\"§REF§(Zhang 2015, 144) Zhang, Qizhi. 2015. An Introduction to Chinese History and Culture. Springer.§REF§" }, { "id": 12, "polity": { "id": 266, "name": "cn_later_great_jin", "long_name": "Jin Dynasty", "start_year": 1115, "end_year": 1234 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "present", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 13, "polity": { "id": 269, "name": "cn_ming_dyn", "long_name": "Great Ming", "start_year": 1368, "end_year": 1644 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "present", "comment": null, "description": " \"...the exams were revived again in 1384 and remained in place from then on. Serious problems remained, however, as the metropolitan exam of 1397 did not pass a single northern scholar. ... A new evaluation added 61 names; the original examiners were punished, and the precedent of quotas of regional graduates was established. The purely meritocratic aspect of the exam system was thus overridden by the need to create a fully empire-wide bureaucracy, or at least one in which the particular advantages of a few regions in the south did not dominate the government.\"§REF§(Lorge 2005, 109)§REF§" }, { "id": 14, "polity": { "id": 425, "name": "cn_northern_song_dyn", "long_name": "Northern Song", "start_year": 960, "end_year": 1127 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "present", "comment": null, "description": "Present<br>\"Theoretically, the process of promotion review entailed two components: a review by the relevant central government authority of the yearly performance evaluations written by the official’s immediate superior and a verification of the years in service necessary to qualify for the promotion.\" §REF§(Hartman 2015, 63)§REF§<br>\"The development of professional services also refers to the prevalence of the revenue-centred meritocracy in the Song bureaucracy. Officials were appointed, reviewed, and rewarded based on their financial administration records. The chance of promotion in someone’s official career heavily depended on how much he could increase the share of indirect tax revenues contributed to the court, a key step in centralizing the financial administration.\"§REF§(Liu 2015, 65)§REF§<br>\"To ensure professionalism, the appointment of high officials in the central government had to demonstrate their financial expertise background. For most of the first century of the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127), over 75 per cent of the Council of the State members, the top level of the central authority, had previous experience in financial administration.\"§REF§(Liu 2015, 65)§REF§<br>Present, among a limited class<br>“Once a bureaucrat had achieved high office, his descendants were entitled to such privileges and advantages that facilitated examinations and direct entry into officialdom. Hence the attainment of high political office for its members allowed an elite lineage to reaffirm its social status and solidify its economic base for another generation.” §REF§(Levine 2008, 4) Levine, Ari Daniel. 2008. Divided by a Common Language: Factional Conflict in Late Northern Song China. University of Hawai'i Press. Honolulu.§REF§" }, { "id": 15, "polity": { "id": 258, "name": "cn_northern_wei_dyn", "long_name": "Northern Wei", "start_year": 386, "end_year": 534 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "absent", "comment": null, "description": "\"The regimes which followed the Han recruited their civilian and military officials from the hereditary aristocracy (the bureaucracy open to talent was an innovation of the Sui and T'ang era).\"§REF§(Peers 1995, 36)§REF§<br>\"The Tuoba ... awarded rank to anyone who raised the appropriate number of men at his own expense.\"§REF§(Peers 1995, 36)§REF§<br>\"Wei leaders proved more skillful than other barbarian rulers in winning the loyalty of the defeated peoples. Like many of their predecessers such as Shi Le, the Wei rulers distinguished between a core element in their state, the so-called \"compatriots\" (guoren), and the mass of ordinary subjects. Almost all military commands and other positions of real power and authority were held by compatriots.\" §REF§(Graff 2002, 72-73)§REF§<br>However, what does this argue?<br>Dai Wei Hong. 2010. Investigation of the Merit System of the Northern Wei Dynasty" }, { "id": 16, "polity": { "id": 1, "name": "cn_qing_dyn_1", "long_name": "Early Qing", "start_year": 1644, "end_year": 1796 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Elman's \"Chart of Civil Examinations and Degrees during the Ming and Ch'ing\" shows promotion through the ranks was achieved by examination.§REF§(Elman 2013, 102) Elman, B. A. 2013. <i>Civil Examinations and Meritocracy in Late Imperial China</i>. Harvard: Harvard University Press.§REF§" }, { "id": 17, "polity": { "id": 2, "name": "cn_qing_dyn_2", "long_name": "Late Qing", "start_year": 1796, "end_year": 1912 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "present", "comment": null, "description": " e.g. Civil service examinations required for selecting imperial state officials §REF§(Rowe 2010, 45-46)§REF§<br>" }, { "id": 18, "polity": { "id": 243, "name": "cn_late_shang_dyn", "long_name": "Late Shang", "start_year": -1250, "end_year": -1045 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " \"The officials belonged to a hereditary class of aristocrats, usually related to the king himself.\"§REF§(The Shang Dynasty, 1600 to 1050 BCE. Spice Digest, Fall 2007. <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://iis-db.stanford.edu/docs/117/ShangDynasty.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://iis-db.stanford.edu/docs/117/ShangDynasty.pdf</a>)§REF§" }, { "id": 19, "polity": { "id": 260, "name": "cn_sui_dyn", "long_name": "Sui Dynasty", "start_year": 581, "end_year": 618 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Fang Kuang-i was promoted from magistrate to governor for good performance. Other officials were told: \"All of you should take him as your master and model.\" §REF§(Wright 1979, 92)§REF§ Introduction of examination system \"was the beginning of an institution for selecting candidates for office on the basis of merit\".§REF§(Wright 1979, 93)§REF§" }, { "id": 20, "polity": { "id": 261, "name": "cn_tang_dyn_1", "long_name": "Tang Dynasty I", "start_year": 617, "end_year": 763 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "present", "comment": null, "description": " \"It is a fact that from the T'ang period on an ever-increasing proportion of officials was recruited from successful candidates at the examinations, that most of the political leaders for the next thirteen centuries did pass the examinations and were thus chosen on grounds of intellectual talent. It is also true that this system was less aristocratic than the recommendation on the basis of family standing which was used during the Period of Division.\"§REF§(Rodzinski 1979, 119)§REF§" }, { "id": 21, "polity": { "id": 264, "name": "cn_tang_dyn_2", "long_name": "Tang Dynasty II", "start_year": 763, "end_year": 907 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "present", "comment": null, "description": " \"It is a fact that from the T'ang period on an ever-increasing proportion of officials was recruited from successful candidates at the examinations, that most of the political leaders for the next thirteen centuries did pass the examinations and were thus chosen on grounds of intellectual talent. It is also true that this system was less aristocratic than the recommendation on the basis of family standing which was used during the Period of Division.\"§REF§(Rodzinski 1979, 119)§REF§" }, { "id": 22, "polity": { "id": 424, "name": "cn_wei_dyn_warring_states", "long_name": "Early Wei Dynasty", "start_year": -445, "end_year": -225 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "present", "comment": null, "description": " \"Around 445 BC, Wei started the new wave of self-strengthening reforms ... In conventional accounts, Wu Qi, a military general who arrived [in Chu] from Wei in 390 BC, introduced a self-strengthening program to eradicate the entrenched nobility and establish meritocracy. The reforms were so comprehensive that Wu Qi was much hated by the aristocrats. When the king died in 381 BC, Wu Qi was killed and the reforms were abandoned.\"§REF§(Tin-bor Hui 2005, n90 85) Tin-bor Hui, Victoria. 2005. War and State Formation in Ancient China and Early Modern Europe. Cambridge University Press.§REF§" }, { "id": 23, "polity": { "id": 251, "name": "cn_western_han_dyn", "long_name": "Western Han Empire", "start_year": -202, "end_year": 9 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "present", "comment": null, "description": "\"The criteria of official promotion during the Western Han Dynasty were by and large those of meritocracy, at least on paper, even though personal relations with superiors always played a crucial role in the promotion process.\"§REF§(Zhao 2015, 70) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§<br>\"During the Western Han Dynasty, the most common method of recruiting government officials was the recommendation system. In an edict of 134 BCE, Emperor Wu required each commandery or feudal kingdom to recommend someone \"fially pious and incorrupt\" (xiao lian) to the central government each year. This method was routinized and became the most important channel of recruiting government officials.\"§REF§(Zhao 2015, 68-69) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§<br>\"Liao has provided systematic data that give a sense of the recruitment and promotion of local government officials during the Western Han period. ... sixty of them (63 per cent) were promoted because of their good performance...\" etc.§REF§(Zhao 2015, 71) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§" }, { "id": 24, "polity": { "id": 244, "name": "cn_western_zhou_dyn", "long_name": "Western Zhou", "start_year": -1122, "end_year": -771 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "present", "comment": null, "description": "present<br>\"In two recent studies, I have shown in detail that not only were some bureaucratic rules developed in the way the central administrative body was divided during the Western Zhou, but the selection and promotion of officials for higher services also seem to have followed some bureaucratic rules.\"§REF§(Feng 2006, 95 n30) Feng, Li. 2006. Landscape and Power in Early China: The Crisis and Fall of the Western Zhou 1045-771 BC. Cambridge University Press.§REF§<br>\"Also, as Li has very convincingly argued, if such a lengthy and slow upward path \"had been the normal pattern of promotion, experience and personal performance would have been considered very important factors in the government service of the Western Zhou.\"§REF§(Zhao 2015, 58-59) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§<br>\"King Wen of Zhou appointed Jiang Shang as prime minister. He would go on to become the most meritorious minister from the Zhou Dynasty. These occasional examples of appointment by virtue and quality still could not break the basic principle of the hereditary system.\"§REF§(Zhang 2015, 142) Zhang, Qizhi. 2015. An Introduction to Chinese History and Culture. Springer.§REF§<br>absent<br>\"The official positions of the Zhou bureaucracy were only open to descendants of the aristocracy.\"§REF§(Zhao 2015, 59) Zhao, Dingxin in Scheidel, Walter. ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press.§REF§ - however, the meritocracy was present within the lineage system." }, { "id": 25, "polity": { "id": 419, "name": "cn_yangshao", "long_name": "Yangshao", "start_year": -5000, "end_year": -3000 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 26, "polity": { "id": 268, "name": "cn_yuan_dyn", "long_name": "Great Yuan", "start_year": 1271, "end_year": 1368 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "present", "comment": null, "description": " The Ministry of Personnel made appointments, did personnel evaluations, and recommended promotions and demotions. §REF§(Brook, 2010, p.83)§REF§" }, { "id": 27, "polity": { "id": 435, "name": "co_neguanje", "long_name": "Neguanje", "start_year": 250, "end_year": 1050 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "absent", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 28, "polity": { "id": 436, "name": "co_tairona", "long_name": "Tairona", "start_year": 1050, "end_year": 1524 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " Various 'public works' are suggestive of some form of administrative organization, but not sufficient to justify coding full-time bureaucrats present." }, { "id": 29, "polity": { "id": 196, "name": "ec_shuar_1", "long_name": "Shuar - Colonial", "start_year": 1534, "end_year": 1830 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "absent", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 30, "polity": { "id": 197, "name": "ec_shuar_2", "long_name": "Shuar - Ecuadorian", "start_year": 1831, "end_year": 1931 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "absent", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 31, "polity": { "id": 367, "name": "eg_ayyubid_sultanate", "long_name": "Ayyubid Sultanate", "start_year": 1171, "end_year": 1250 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "absent", "comment": null, "description": "§REF§(Chamberlain 1998, 234-35) Chamberlain, Michael. 1998. “The Crusader Era and the Ayyūbid Dynasty.” In The Cambridge History of Egypt, Vol. 1: Islamic Egypt, 640-1517, edited by Carl F. Petry, 211-41. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/XQVWZ4VA\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/XQVWZ4VA</a>.§REF§" }, { "id": 32, "polity": { "id": 510, "name": "eg_badarian", "long_name": "Badarian", "start_year": -4400, "end_year": -3800 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "absent", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 33, "polity": { "id": 514, "name": "eg_dynasty_1", "long_name": "Egypt - Dynasty I", "start_year": -3100, "end_year": -2900 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " Some later Old Kingdom tomb biographies suggest at least an informal promotional system. e.g. Biography of Weni, Dynasty 6, from Abydos. §REF§(Lichtheim 1975, 18-23)§REF§. However there was probably no regular, institutionalized procedure for promotion based on performance." }, { "id": 34, "polity": { "id": 515, "name": "eg_dynasty_2", "long_name": "Egypt - Dynasty II", "start_year": -2900, "end_year": -2687 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " Some later Old Kingdom tomb biographies suggest at least an informal promotional system. e.g. Biography of Weni, Dynasty 6, from Abydos. §REF§(Lichtheim 1975, 18-23)§REF§. However there was probably no regular, institutionalized procedure for promotion based on performance." }, { "id": 35, "polity": { "id": 205, "name": "eg_inter_occupation", "long_name": "Egypt - Inter-Occupation Period", "start_year": -404, "end_year": -342 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " \"Classical commentators, writing from quite a different perspective, reveal without compunction the complex interaction of individual ambition untrammelled by loyalty or ideological factors whereby ambitious political figures seize any opportunity for advancement provided by the sectional interests of the native Egyptian warrior class, Greek mercenary captains, and, less obviously, the Egyptian priesthood.\" §REF§(Lloyd 2000, 377)§REF§ This doesn't seem conducive to a meritocratic environment. About Nectanebo II: \"Once established as undisputed ruler, this experienced soldier was well aware that the key to preserving his authority lay in keeping control of the army, particularly through his eldest son who was promoted ‘‘First Generalissimo of His Majesty’’ (imy-r mSa wr tpy n Hm.f).\" §REF§(Perdu 2010, 156)§REF§" }, { "id": 36, "polity": { "id": 232, "name": "eg_mamluk_sultanate_1", "long_name": "Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate I", "start_year": 1260, "end_year": 1348 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "present", "comment": null, "description": " \"Promotions were granted according to precise rules and could lead to the highest positions in the government, both military (atabak al-asakir, general-in-chief; amir silah, director of the arsenal; amir akhur, supreme commander of the army) and administrative (amir majlis, emir of the audience; dawawar, chancellor), as well as to the governorship of the provinces. ... To be acclaimed sultan was naturally the chief career objective of a capable and ambitious emir. One might reach it through seniority, merit, cabal, intrigue, or violence.\"§REF§(Raymond 2000, 113-114)§REF§ However, from 1290-1382 CE the top position of sultan was inherited by 17 descendants of Sultan Qalawun. §REF§(Raymond 2000, 114)§REF§<br>\"Elite personnel of the regime, including the sultan, were slaves or former slaves. In principle, although there were important exceptions, no one could be a member of the military elite unless he was of foreign origin (usually Turkish or Circassian), purchased and raised as a slave, and trained to be a soldier and administrator. No native of Egypt or Syria could ever belong to this elite, nor, in principle, could the sons of slaves.\" §REF§(Lapidus 2012, 247)§REF§<br>\"The Mamluks' descendants, the awlad al-nas ... were in theory prohibited from holding political or military office. The rule, however, was subject to exceptions...\" §REF§(Raymond 2000, 113)§REF§" }, { "id": 37, "polity": { "id": 236, "name": "eg_mamluk_sultanate_2", "long_name": "Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II", "start_year": 1348, "end_year": 1412 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "present", "comment": null, "description": " \"Promotions were granted according to precise rules and could lead to the highest positions in the government, both military (atabak al-asakir, general-in-chief; amir silah, director of the arsenal; amir akhur, supreme commander of the army) and administrative (amir majlis, emir of the audience; dawawar, chancellor), as well as to the governorship of the provinces. ... To be acclaimed sultan was naturally the chief career objective of a capable and ambitious emir. One might reach it through seniority, merit, cabal, intrigue, or violence.\"§REF§(Raymond 2000, 113-114)§REF§ However, from 1290-1382 CE the top position of sultan was inherited by 17 descendants of Sultan Qalawun. §REF§(Raymond 2000, 114)§REF§<br>\"Elite personnel of the regime, including the sultan, were slaves or former slaves. In principle, although there were important exceptions, no one could be a member of the military elite unless he was of foreign origin (usually Turkish or Circassian), purchased and raised as a slave, and trained to be a soldier and administrator. No native of Egypt or Syria could ever belong to this elite, nor, in principle, could the sons of slaves.\" §REF§(Lapidus 2012, 247)§REF§<br>\"The Mamluks' descendants, the awlad al-nas ... were in theory prohibited from holding political or military office. The rule, however, was subject to exceptions...\" §REF§(Raymond 2000, 113)§REF§<br>" }, { "id": 38, "polity": { "id": 519, "name": "eg_middle_k", "long_name": "Egypt - Middle Kingdom", "start_year": -2016, "end_year": -1700 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 39, "polity": { "id": 511, "name": "eg_naqada_1", "long_name": "Naqada I", "start_year": -3800, "end_year": -3550 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "absent", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 40, "polity": { "id": 512, "name": "eg_naqada_2", "long_name": "Naqada II", "start_year": -3550, "end_year": -3300 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 41, "polity": { "id": 513, "name": "eg_naqada_3", "long_name": "Egypt - Dynasty 0", "start_year": -3300, "end_year": -3100 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 42, "polity": { "id": 199, "name": "eg_new_k_2", "long_name": "Egypt - New Kingdom Ramesside Period", "start_year": -1293, "end_year": -1070 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": " Social order considered maat, that is, divinely intended.§REF§(Hinds 2006, 5)§REF§ However, in the army commoners could achieve promotion to officer status.§REF§(Healy 1992, 19)§REF§ shn[t]y st.f m 'h \"One whose position/status was promoted in the 'h.\" (tomb of Dhwty, Thut III - Hatsh. period).§REF§(Pagliari 2012, 716) Pagliari, Giulia. 2012. Function and significance of ancient Egyptian royal palaces from the Middle Kingdom to the Saite period: a lexicographical study and its possible connection with the archaeological evidence. Ph.D. thesis. University of Birmingham.§REF§ <i>the 'h is considered to be a palace with ceremonial and ritual functions.</i>" }, { "id": 43, "polity": { "id": 198, "name": "eg_new_k_1", "long_name": "Egypt - New Kingdom Thutmosid Period", "start_year": -1550, "end_year": -1293 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": " Social order considered maat, that is, divinely intended.§REF§(Hinds 2006, 5)§REF§ However, in the army commoners could achieve promotion to officer status.§REF§(Healy 1992, 19)§REF§ shn[t]y st.f m 'h \"One whose position/status was promoted in the 'h.\" (tomb of Dhwty, Thut III - Hatsh. period).§REF§(Pagliari 2012, 716) Pagliari, Giulia. 2012. Function and significance of ancient Egyptian royal palaces from the Middle Kingdom to the Saite period: a lexicographical study and its possible connection with the archaeological evidence. Ph.D. thesis. University of Birmingham.§REF§ <i>the 'h is considered to be a palace with ceremonial and ritual functions.</i>" }, { "id": 44, "polity": { "id": 516, "name": "eg_old_k_1", "long_name": "Egypt - Classic Old Kingdom", "start_year": -2650, "end_year": -2350 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Some later Old Kingdom tomb biographies suggest at least an informal promotional system. e.g. Biography of Weni, Dynasty 6, from Abydos. §REF§(Lichtheim 1975, 18-23)§REF§. However there was probably no regular, institutionalized procedure for promotion based on performance.<br>Promotion on merit was essential to scribal culture but knowing the right person and informal networks also helped a bureaucrat's career.§REF§(Garcia 2013, 1029) Garcia, Juan Carlos Moreno \"The 'Other' Administration: Patronage, Factions, and Informal Networks of Power in Ancient Egypt\" in Garcia, Juan Carlos Moreno ed. 2013. Ancient Egyptian Administration. BRILL.§REF§ <i>Example given 6th Dynasty scribe Weni of Abydos.</i><br>\"It was administered by a literate elite selected at least partly on merit.\" §REF§(Malek 2000, 85)§REF§" }, { "id": 45, "polity": { "id": 517, "name": "eg_old_k_2", "long_name": "Egypt - Late Old Kingdom", "start_year": -2350, "end_year": -2150 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Some later Old Kingdom tomb biographies suggest at least an informal promotional system. e.g. Biography of Weni, Dynasty 6, from Abydos. §REF§(Lichtheim 1975, 18-23)§REF§.<br>Promotion on merit was essential to scribal culture but knowing the right person and informal networks also helped a bureaucrat's career.§REF§(Garcia 2013, 1029) Garcia, Juan Carlos Moreno \"The 'Other' Administration: Patronage, Factions, and Informal Networks of Power in Ancient Egypt\" in Garcia, Juan Carlos Moreno ed. 2013. Ancient Egyptian Administration. BRILL.§REF§ <i>Example given 6th Dynasty scribe Weni of Abydos.</i><br>\"It was administered by a literate elite selected at least partly on merit.\" §REF§(Malek 2000, 85)§REF§" }, { "id": 46, "polity": { "id": 109, "name": "eg_ptolemaic_k_1", "long_name": "Ptolemaic Kingdom I", "start_year": -305, "end_year": -217 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "present", "comment": null, "description": " At least in theory a system of promotion existed as literary texts refer to it. See D. Crawford, \"The Good Official of Ptolemaic Egypt,\" in H. Maehler and V. Strocka, Das ptolemäische Ägypten. Mainz, 1978:195-202." }, { "id": 47, "polity": { "id": 207, "name": "eg_ptolemaic_k_2", "long_name": "Ptolemaic Kingdom II", "start_year": -217, "end_year": -30 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "present", "comment": null, "description": " At least in theory a system of promotion existed as literary texts refer to it. See D. Crawford, \"The Good Official of Ptolemaic Egypt,\" in H. Maehler and V. Strocka, Das ptolemäische Ägypten. Mainz, 1978:195-202." }, { "id": 48, "polity": { "id": 203, "name": "eg_saite", "long_name": "Egypt - Saite Period", "start_year": -664, "end_year": -525 }, "year_from": -664, "year_to": -571, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "present", "comment": null, "description": " In 570 BCE Apries was \"swept from the throne by a machimoi backlash against the privileged position of Greeks and Carians in the military establishment.\"§REF§(Lloyd 2000, 367)§REF§" }, { "id": 49, "polity": { "id": 203, "name": "eg_saite", "long_name": "Egypt - Saite Period", "start_year": -664, "end_year": -525 }, "year_from": -570, "year_to": -525, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " In 570 BCE Apries was \"swept from the throne by a machimoi backlash against the privileged position of Greeks and Carians in the military establishment.\"§REF§(Lloyd 2000, 367)§REF§" }, { "id": 50, "polity": { "id": 520, "name": "eg_thebes_hyksos", "long_name": "Egypt - Thebes-Hyksos Period", "start_year": -1720, "end_year": -1567 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Merit_promotion", "merit_promotion": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " Evidence of father-son successions among 13th dynasty Viziers. Succession \"well attested for governors and at lower levels of the administration.\"§REF§(Grajetzki 2010, 306)§REF§" } ] }