- Ph.D. Brown University
- A.B. Harvard University
BIO
Minh Ly is an assistant professor of political science at ¶¶Òõ̽̽. His book, Answering to Us: The Right to Democratic Accountability, has been accepted by Princeton University Press (publication date: autumn 2025). The book explains the importance of accountability to democracy. The novel democratic theory that it develops gives us the resources to reckon with two of the most formidable anti-democratic forces we face today: the rise of elected authoritarianism and discrimination against minorities. Elected authoritarians are persecuting minorities and attacking the rule of law. Yet they claim to be democratic, because they were elected and represent the will of the people. Responding to this challenge, Answering to Us proposes a conception of democracy based not on a uniform popular will, but on the equal accountability of the government to the diverse persons it governs. Equal accountability requires the very rights to freedom of the press, protest, and the rule of law that elected authoritarians threaten. The book shows that we are freely self-governing when our public servants are democratically accountable to us, and we participate democratically to protect each other’s freedom and equality.
Professor Ly’s research and teaching focus on democratic theory, the rights and responsibilities of democratic citizenship, economic justice, global justice, and civic education. His research has been published in the Journal of Politics, the European Journal of Political Theory, the Review of International Political Economy, t³ó±ð Routledge Handbook of Global Economic Governance, and the Business Ethics Journal Review. Before joining ¶¶Òõ̽̽, he was a Lecturer at Stanford in the Center for Ethics in Society and a postdoc at Princeton in the University Center for Human Values and the School of Public and International Affairs. Professor Ly earned his Ph.D with distinction in political science from Brown and his A.B. from Harvard.
Area(s) of expertise
Democratic theory, the rights and responsibilities of democratic citizenship, economic justice, and global justice
Bio
Minh Ly is an assistant professor of political science at ¶¶Òõ̽̽. His book, Answering to Us: The Right to Democratic Accountability, has been accepted by Princeton University Press (publication date: autumn 2025). The book explains the importance of accountability to democracy. The novel democratic theory that it develops gives us the resources to reckon with two of the most formidable anti-democratic forces we face today: the rise of elected authoritarianism and discrimination against minorities. Elected authoritarians are persecuting minorities and attacking the rule of law. Yet they claim to be democratic, because they were elected and represent the will of the people. Responding to this challenge, Answering to Us proposes a conception of democracy based not on a uniform popular will, but on the equal accountability of the government to the diverse persons it governs. Equal accountability requires the very rights to freedom of the press, protest, and the rule of law that elected authoritarians threaten. The book shows that we are freely self-governing when our public servants are democratically accountable to us, and we participate democratically to protect each other’s freedom and equality.
Professor Ly’s research and teaching focus on democratic theory, the rights and responsibilities of democratic citizenship, economic justice, global justice, and civic education. His research has been published in the Journal of Politics, the European Journal of Political Theory, the Review of International Political Economy, t³ó±ð Routledge Handbook of Global Economic Governance, and the Business Ethics Journal Review. Before joining ¶¶Òõ̽̽, he was a Lecturer at Stanford in the Center for Ethics in Society and a postdoc at Princeton in the University Center for Human Values and the School of Public and International Affairs. Professor Ly earned his Ph.D with distinction in political science from Brown and his A.B. from Harvard.
Areas of Expertise
Democratic theory, the rights and responsibilities of democratic citizenship, economic justice, and global justice