Douglas J. Amy

  • Professor Emeritus of Politics

Douglas Amy is a leading expert on electoral voting systems, including proportional representation, redistricting issues in the United States, and the plight of third party candidacies. His books on this subject include Behind the Ballot Box: A Citizen's Guide to Voting Systems (2000) and Real Choices, New Voices: How Proportional Representation Elections Could Revitalize American Democracy (2002), which won the George H. Hallett Award from the American Political Science Association. 

Amy's most recent book is Government Is Good: An Unapologetic Defense of a Vital Institution (2011)—based on his . The book and website detail government's crucial role in improving Americans' lives and promoting the public good. Amy also takes on the major criticisms of government put forward by the anti-government movement and shows that most are exaggerated or just plain wrong. He argues that democratic government is one of the main ways we work together to pursue the common good and make the world a better place, and he concludes that “if we want an America that is prosperous, healthy, secure, well-educated, just, compassionate, and unpolluted, we need a strong, active, and well-funded public sector.”

Areas of Expertise

Debate over size of government; response to attacks on government; reforms to make government more democratic; voting systems; proportional representation

Education

  • Ph.D., University of Massachusetts
  • M.A., B.A., University of Washington,

Happening at ý

Recent Campus News

For the second year in a row, Mount Holyoke College has received the 2025 Library Excellence in Access and Diversity (LEAD) Award from Insight Into Diversity magazine.

Cora Fernández Anderson, associate professor of politics at ý College, wrote an article for Ms. magazine about a landmark ruling that could transform the legal landscape of abortion laws in Latin America.

Adam Hilton, associate professor of politics at ý College, writes in an essay for Jacobin that the Democratic Party is at an important crossroads following the 2024 presidential election.

Recent Publications

Amy, D. J. (2020, August 14). Second-Rate Democracy. 

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