Democratic Erosion University Course Student Blog

Students enrolled in our course are encouraged to write for the course blog, and to read and comment on posts from students at other participating universities. The blog offers students the opportunity to analyze current events through the lens of the theory and case studies they engage with through the course.

These blogs reflect the views of the student authors, and not those of the Democratic Erosion Consortium.

When Violence Becomes “Politics as Usual”: How Normalization Threatens American Democracy

Political violence in the United States is no longer an outlier, it’s becoming an accepted feature of political life. That normalization, more than any single incident, poses a profound threat to the norms that keep American democracy intact.

Presidential Crisis in Guatemala: The Challenges and Resilience of Democracy

Guatemalan anti-corruption reformer Bernardo Arévalo’s rise to power and election in 2023 brought political blowback from the incumbent power bloc, threatening democratic norms and only being curtailed through widespread international pressure and citizen-led protests.

El Salvador: Nayib Bukele’s Stealth Authoritarian Tactics

How the popularity of Bukele’s war on gangs has emboldened him to quietly dismantle checks on power through specific stealth authoritarian tactics to further erode democratic systems.

El Salvador Chose Bukele, Not Democracy

Nov 21, 2025 | University of Pittsburgh

On July 31, 2025, the El Salvadoran congress passed significant changes to the El Salvadoran constitution. By a vote of 57 to 3, they passed notable changes including the...

Civil Society vs. Populism: Israel’s Fight Over Democracy

Nov 20, 2025 | University of Pittsburgh

“Democracy can collapse in silence, but in Israel it spilled into the streets.” On July 24, 2023, the Knesset passed what became known as the “reasonableness law,”...

Can Poland Rebuild Its Democratic Institutions Without Breaking Them Further?

Nov 20, 2025 | University of Georgia

Poland’s 2023 election was noted as a critical turning point. After eight years, the Law and Justice Party (PiS), a coalition led by Donald Tusk gained enough seats to attempt a democratic course...

Daniel Ortega, and his Patient, Lifelong Quest for Unchecked Power in Nicaragua

Nov 20, 2025 | University of Pittsburgh

Nicaragua’s experience with true, liberal democracy is limited. Their battle to end United States backed regimes went well into the 1970s. Free, fair, competitive elections were not seen until 1990....

Free But Not Fair – Turkey’s Tilted Elections

Nov 20, 2025 | University of Pittsburgh

In the May 2023 Turkish presidential election, the world watched closely to see if voters would finally have the power to put an end to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s 20 year rule. However, the...

Legislating Erosion in Slovakia

Nov 19, 2025 | University of Pittsburgh

In 1998, Slovaks took a stand against their government to ensure future democratization. After the Velvet Revolution and Divorce, the Slovak Republic became a hybrid regime under the nationalist...

El Salvador’s Successful Stealth Authoritarianism

Nov 17, 2025 | University of Pittsburgh

Executive aggrandizement has been a persistent issue in El Salvador for years, dating back to President Bukele's election in 2019. With legislative approval, Bukele is on his way to eroding...

Judicial Reform in Mexico: Democratization or Democratic Erosion?

Nov 17, 2025 | University of Pittsburgh

On September 15th, 2024, former President López Obrador of Mexico signed into law a sweeping judicial reform drastically changing Mexico’s political landscape. The reform’s most prominent feature is...

A Marine’s Death Exposed How Procedure Replaced Accountability in South Korea’s Democracy

Nov 15, 2025 | University of Pittsburgh

In July 2023, South Korea was hit by severe monsoon rains. The Marine Corps was dispatched to Yecheon for rescue operations. Corporal Chae Su-geun, a 20-year-old marine, and his team were ordered to...

How the CAA and Religious Tensions Threaten India’s Democracy

Nov 14, 2025 | University of Pittsburgh

In 2019, India’s government passed the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which offers non-Muslim religious minorities from neighboring countries a fast-track pass to Indian citizenship. Prime...

Copy-and-Paste: Why Latin America is Using El Salvador as an Anti-Crime Template

Nov 14, 2025 | University of Georgia

Mano dura translates to “iron fist,” broadly defined as strong-armed, anti-crime policies that much of Latin America has implemented over recent decades in response to massive rises in gang...