Under the system of people had better chances of obtaining government positions based on the quality of their work and ideas, not their political connections

This sounds like a meritocracy.  A meritocracy is political, and social philosophy which holds that power should be vested in those of significant merit and talent.  In an ideal meritocracy, there is no basis on race, religion, or appearance, only in one's quality of work, talents, ideas and merit, and as such, people are to either rise to their own ability or fall behind accordingly.  Getting rid of the "promotion by political or familial connections" portion of governance has proved successful in many places, and we've largely done away with feudalist societies, where lords were utterly inept with handling finances, generals had no proper understanding of warfare, and where peasants were sometimes brighter than their masters, yet unable to advise them on issues.  One notable world leader who openly declared a meritocracy was Napoleon Bonepart, who famously stated that the ranks of the French military and civil service will be open to all who have the merit, experience and knowledge.  In French, this quote was: "La Carrière Ouverte aux Talents".

A modern day example of a meritocracy is in Singapore, a tiny city-state on the tip of the Malay peninsula, with only about 5.2 million citizens, but very efficient government.  The architect of this success is Lee Kuan Yew, who has argued that cultural values are the core explanation for such success and that Asians are: “More focused on the family, more devoted to education and saving; and more willing to put faith in a Mandarin elite* than the west.”.  In other words, because Singapore is more authoritarian, meritocratic and interventionist as the answer for Singapore's sucess.   It's an often made case that aside from Singapore's authoritarian democracy[1], another contributing social factor is the “Asian value” of a meritocracy, where individuals are promoted based on individual ability and merit.  This is evidently beneficial for Singapore, for example, Singapore has the 6th best health care in the world, even beating Canada.  Its education system is also first rate, even though it only takes up 3.3% of the Gross Domestic Product, in addition, there is also a required retirement fund where Singaporeans contribute 20% of their paycheck and their employers add another 15.5%.  This is all because Singapore is able to appoint officials who can "get the job done", instead of getting a rich CEO's son to run the nation's financial sector.

More on meritocracy
Since links are inexplicably disallowed on , just search up: "School of Life- Meritocracy" and [1]"Democracy, Authoritarian Capitalism, and China: Crash Course World History 230"


*Mandarin elite in traditional Chinese and east Asian governments are made of appointed officials based on arduous examinations and meritocratic bureaucracy