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.

Stealth Authoritarianism in Tunisia

According to Al Jazeera, Tunisia’s January 2026 sentencing of two journalists to three year prison terms for allegedly “spreading false news" illustrates the broader pattern of democratic erosion under president Kais Saied. Once widely regarded as the only democratic...

AI as Democratic Erosion by Proxy: Trump, Synthetic Media, and the Normalization of Anti-Pluralism

Donald Trump’s use of AI-generated media, particularly content that fabricates or manipulates the speech and actions of political opponents, constitutes a form of democratic erosion by proxy: it does not directly dismantle democratic institutions, but it degrades the...

Is India Facing Democratic Backsliding?

Within the past decade, political institutions have listed India’s democracy in a steady decline. The V-Dem Institute lists India as #100 out of 179 countries, classifying it as an “electoral autocracy,” citing the excessive pressures on media and challenges to civil...

Does Nayib Bukele Present a Compelling Challenge to Democratic Values?

Feb 15, 2025 | Boston University

Underlining political discussion here in the United States is a presumption that democracy is the best system by which we can organise civil society. I should preface that...

DOJ Terminations

Feb 14, 2025 | Boston University

Recently, The White House Terminated multiple U.S. attorneys within the Justice Department, which in itself can be seen as executive aggrandizement considering The White...

Populism and Political Systems

May 20, 2022 | University of California, San Diego

In the past few years, the tendency of populism has been increasing worldwide. Many state leaders are reckoned as populist due to their proposals on policies, such as the former President of the...

Will Castillo’s Proposed Referendum Fix Peru’s Democratic Erosion?

May 17, 2022 | SUNY-Binghamton

In June 2021, Pedro Castillo, a self proclaimed leftist populist, was elected as the president of Peru. With his victory over Keiko Fujimori a right wing populist only coming by 40,000 votes it...

Elon Musk’s Acquisition of Twitter: The Privatization of Social Media

May 17, 2022 | University of California, San Diego

Twitter, the social media platform that has been publicly traded since 2013, is expected to come under private ownership once again. This news comes with Elon Musk’s $44 billion offer to acquire the...

The Crumbling Institutional Pillars of the US Supreme Court

May 17, 2022 | University of California, San Diego

The recent leak of the initial majority draft opinion on Roe v. Wade has many implications of democratic erosion. The significance of this occurrence goes beyond the potential overturning of this...

Department of Homeland Security Announces New Disinformation Board

May 17, 2022 | University of California, San Diego

On April 27, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it had formed a new board focused on combating disinformation. The board will be headed by Nina Jankowicz, a Wilson Center...

Rise of Erdogan and Democratic Erosion in Turkey

May 17, 2022 | SUNY-Binghamton

Turkey was once the beacon of democratic liberalism in the East, outside of the Western powers. However, under its current leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling party, Justice and Development...

Myanmar 2020 Election Fraud

May 17, 2022 | SUNY-Binghamton

Since gaining independence from British Rule, Myanmar, then known as Burma, experienced years of civil unrest between various ethnic groups. Just within 8 months after independence, the country was...

Continued Conflict in Ukraine

May 16, 2022 | SUNY-Binghamton

Continued Conflict in Ukraine As of late April, Ukraine has now been subject to this most recent military occupation by Russia for about two months. Under President Vladimir Putin, the Russian...

The Partisan Divide of American Media

May 15, 2022 | SUNY-Binghamton

On April 21st, 2022, President Joe Biden unveiled the latest program of the Department of Homeland Security, Uniting for Ukraine. Under this new program, Ukrainian refugees can receive a 2-year...