Aretecracy
Aretecracy (from ἀρετή aretḗ, "virtue/excellence", and κράτος krátos, "rule/power"; Spanish: Aretecracia) is a democratic proposal developed by legal scholar Milton Arrieta-López. The idea combines a civic–ethical qualification process with ordinary universal elections. In this model, people who want to run for office must first obtain a qualification based on knowledge of constitutional and legal principles, public ethics, and human rights, together with a review of their civic conduct. After that, elections proceed normally.
Published descriptions present this as a way to introduce a more structured entry path into political life. The intended purpose is to professionalize candidacy and public service through a defined qualification process and procedural controls. Some versions allow qualification to be carried out not only by a national institution but also, under common standards and external auditing, by accredited non-partisan bodies such as universities.
Concept and origins
Arrieta-López introduced the proposal in a series of academic publications, beginning with La Aretedemocracia o Virtudemocracia (2018), followed by De la Democracia a la Aretecracia (2019), and later the English-language manuscript Beyond Populism and Plutocracy: Aretecracy as a New Democratic Paradigm (2024).[1][2][3]
Across these works, he employed different labels such as Aretedemocracy/Virtuedemocracy and later Aretecracy/Aretecracia (occasionally Aretocracy/Aretocracia) to refer to a model that introduces a formal qualification stage prior to candidacy for public office. The proposed qualification is described as involving assessments related to constitutional principles, public ethics, and civic conduct. While the framework is presented as potentially applicable to multiple branches of government, the author’s discussion focuses primarily on executive office. In his writings, this qualification stage is framed as a procedural mechanism intended to regulate access to political leadership within existing electoral systems, which the author presents as a response to concerns about democratic degradation, including forms commonly described as plutocracy or ochlocracy.
Scholarly reception and usage
Peer-reviewed discussion includes Iriarte-Angarita (2020), who examines the proposal within the broader tradition of virtue-centered democratic thought and situates it in contrast with technocratic and meritocratic models.[4]
The term also appears in independent academic works that cite or discuss Arrieta-López in substantive analyses of citizenship, political practices, democratic culture, education, public administration, and legal theory, including Hernández de Velazco et al. (2020), Troncozo Montes (2021), Fontana Filho (2022), Castillo Povea et al. (2022), Moreno, Megías and Fernández del Río (2023), Zambrano Sánchez (2023), Vilca Vilca, Isia Larico and Carcausto Sacaca (2023), Guerra Pérez (2024), Arynova et al. (2025), and De León Vertel (2025).[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]
Applications and mentions
In 2020, an NGO with consultative status presented "Aretecracy" to the UN ECOSOC High-Level Segment in the context of discussions on the Sustainable Development Goals.[15] In 2021, the Constitution and Regulations Committee of the Congress of Peru mentioned the proposal while examining bills to amend the Organic Law of the Executive relating to ethical and managerial requirements for ministers of state.[16] In 2023, the concept was also referenced in an institutional publication of the Colombian Senate, produced by its legislative research body, in the context of analyses on democracy and education in Latin America, where it was used as a normative and juridico-political framework to discuss the risks of democratic degradation into plutocracy or ochlocracy.[17]
Institutional design
Arrieta-López describes the qualification procedure as involving assessments on constitutional matters and public ethics, as well as a review of civic conduct. Some publications refer to possible oversight bodies that would apply written criteria and issue or suspend qualifications. The exact institutional form varies across his works, and later texts describe options for decentralizing some tasks to accredited institutions, provided there is a common national framework and external auditing.[2][3]
Criticism and debates
Commentary on the general idea of pre-election qualification notes potential concerns, such as the risk of political influence over qualifying bodies or tensions with open electoral access. Supporters of aretecracy refer to transparency requirements, written procedures and external review as measures intended to limit these risks.[4]
Comparison with other governance models
| Model | Access to leadership | Electoral process | Common criticism |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal democracy | Open to all | Yes | Vulnerable to influence by money or demagogy |
| Technocracy | Experts only | No | Limited democratic participation |
| Meritocracy | Advancement by technical credentials | Varies | Overemphasis on academic or technical measures |
| Aretecracy | Open with civic–ethical qualification | Yes | Possible institutional bias or gatekeeping |
See also
References
- ↑ Arrieta-López, Milton (2018). "La Aretedemocracia o Virtudemocracia: Un sistema de gobierno calificado contra las deformaciones de la democracia" (in es). Justicia 23 (34): 539–554. doi:10.17081/just.23.34.3406.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Arrieta-López, Milton (2019). "De la democracia a la aretecracia: origen, evolución y universalización" (in es). Utopía y Praxis Latinoamericana 24 (Extra 3): 115–132. https://produccioncientificaluz.org/index.php/utopia/article/view/29689.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Arrieta-López, Milton (2024). "Beyond Populism and Plutocracy: Aretecracy as a New Democratic Paradigm" (in en). Revista Jurídicas CUC 20 (1): 1–23. https://revistascientificas.cuc.edu.co/juridicascuc/article/view/5621.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Iriarte-Angarita, Álvaro A. (2020). "La aretecracia/virtuscracia como objetivo teleológico de la sociedad civil del siglo XXI" (in es). Sostenibilidad, Tecnología y Humanismo 11 (1): 94–106. https://unitecnar.edu.co/sites/default/files/0.%20Revista_STH_VOL_I_No_2020_Canjes%20y%20Env%C3%ADos.pdf#page=10.
- ↑ Hernández de Velazco, J. J.; Romero Marín, L. C.; Chumaceiro Hernández, A. C.; Uribe, N. A. (2020). "Gestión normativa ciudadana: construcción desde la felicidad social y paz en Colombia" (in es). Revista Opción 36 (92): 51–84. https://produccioncientificaluz.org/index.php/opcion/article/view/32696.
- ↑ Troncozo Montes, R. P. (2021). La creación de la función de Participación Ciudadana y sus implicaciones en la democracia participativa: una aproximación teórica para la comprensión del caso ecuatoriano (PDF) (Master's thesis) (in español). Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar.
- ↑ Fontana Filho, M. (2022). "The risks of majority rule as decision mechanism: on the tyranny of numbers" (in en). MISES: Revista Interdisciplinar de Filosofía, Derecho y Economia 10. https://revistamises.org.br/misesjournal/article/view/1412.
- ↑ Castillo Povea, Eduardo; Páez Barros, Jorge Enrique; Rodríguez Serpa, Ferney Asdrúbal; De la Torre Soto, Giselle Lorena; Navarro Beltrán, Jorge (2022). "Nulidad absoluta por falencia en la planeación contractual" (in es). Amauta (40). doi:10.15648/am.40.2022.3594. https://revistas.uniatlantico.edu.co/index.php/Amauta/article/view/3594.
- ↑ Moreno, Cristina; Megías, Adrián; Fernández del Río, Alejandro (2023). "Retos para la democracia en el nuevo contexto de IA e IoT: Hacia una nueva ciudadanía" (in es). Revista Internacional de Pensamiento Político (18): 139–155. https://producciocientifica.uv.es/documentos/65b2b1709810e43f77274d8b.
- ↑ Zambrano Sánchez, Edison Bolívar (2023). La acción de ejecución del silencio administrativo positivo: su eficacia para hacer efectiva la petición (Master's thesis) (in español). Universidad de Cuenca.
- ↑ Vilca Vilca, Lucy; Isia Larico, Jesus Alfredo; Carcausto Sacaca, Rosa Elena (2023). "Percepciones sobre educación en tiempos de pandemia en maestros del Colegio de Alto Rendimiento" (in es). Revista Latinoamericana de Educación 1 (1): 46–85. doi:10.53595/rle.v1.i1.002. https://idicap.com/ojs/index.php/rle/article/view/332.
- ↑ Guerra Pérez, F. J. (2024). El juez de control en el sistema acusatorio, de frente al orden constitucional y democrático del Estado mexicano (Doctoral thesis) (in español). Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León.
- ↑ Arynova, Zulfiya; Kaidarova, Saida; Bekniyazova, Dana; Zolotareva, Svetlana; Shelomentseva, Valentina; Zhanuzakova, Saltanat; Mussina, Alma (2025). "The Impact of Consumer Behavior on the Formation of Sustainable Development Strategies of Companies in the Context of Digitalization and Virtualization" (in en). Qubahan Academic Journal 5 (3). doi:10.48161/qaj.v5n3a1843. https://journal.qubahan.com/index.php/qaj/article/view/1843.
- ↑ De León Vertel, Cecilia del Carmen (2025). "Representaciones sociales: de las prácticas democráticas y del saber elegir representantes escolares Montería Colombia" (in es). Punto Educativo: 702–714. doi:10.5281/zenodo.17438274. https://zenodo.org/records/17438274.
- ↑ (in en) Statements submitted by NGOs in consultative status (High-Level Segment), E/2020/NGO/1 (Report). United Nations Economic and Social Council. 2020. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/26614Written_Statements_NGO.pdf.
- ↑ (in es) Dictamen recaído en los proyectos de ley 0048/2021-CR, 0051/2021-DP, 0055/2021-CR y 0184/2021-CR que modifica la Ley 29158, Ley Orgánica del Poder Ejecutivo, para fortalecer las capacidades de gestión de los ministros de Estado (Dictamen). Congreso de la República del Perú, Comisión de Constitución y Reglamento. 2021. https://archive.org/details/congreso-peru-dictamen-0048-2021.
- ↑ (in es) Plan de Desarrollo Social: La educación como pilar de transformación. Serie Estudios Legislativos. Senado de la República de Colombia, Centro de Investigaciones y Altos Estudios Legislativos (CAEL). 2023. https://archive.org/details/plan-de-desarrollo-social-senado-de-la-republica-2023.
