The aim here is to research certain ideas-forces concerning how we can advance in terms of democratic governability through the institutional strengthening of the public function. In order to do so, the first step consists of investigating what problems of governability can be resolved through the institutionalised public function which in the west is becoming increasingly known as the «Merit System». Today the Merit System in its traditional form as a public bureaucratic function finds itself the subject of serious and partly justified doctrinal and political criticism. Nonetheless, if we do not know precisely what social problems the bureaucratic merit system resolved, we run the risk of introducing reforms which are intentionally modernising but which end up effectively deteriorating our governability and institutional fabric. The priority is therefore to study the fundaments, the public and judicial assets embodied by the merit system. Once this task has been undertaken, we can then take stock of the challenges currently faced by the traditional public bureaucratic function and the responses and solutions which have been put forward by the new international movement for administrative modernisation which began as a result of the crisis which has been seen in all advanced democracies from the mid-1970s onwards.