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.

Arresting Opposition and Squashing Protests: Democratic Backsliding in Turkey Under Erdoğan

Turkey has been inching towards autocracy under Erdoğan and the AKP for the last 22 years.

2025 Romanian Elections: An Election Redo and a Barred Candidate

Only two weeks out from Presidential Elections, Romanian voters face a tough decision in deciding on the next leader of their country. The latest opinion polls show that nearly 40% of voters are still undecided on who to vote for. After all, most voters already cast...

Why Protecting American Democracy Means Coming Together In Protest

In the lead up to the 2020 presidential election, the Democratic Erosion Consortium's very own professors Robert Blair and Steven Rosenzweig wrote an article in The Boston Globe urging readers to “Get ready to protest like democracy depends on it.” The article was in...

How Did Trump’s Presidency Bomb American Democracy?

Apr 30, 2024 | William Jewell College

The United States is one of the world's oldest democracies, being originally founded in 1776. In contrast to nations that have existed for centuries, America is only 247...

The Root of Myanmar’s Unending Civil War

Apr 29, 2024 | Ursinus College

Myanmar as a nation is poverty-stricken, polarized, and plagued with military rule, completely ravaged by an ongoing civil war. Freedom House gives the country a total...

Donald Trump, King of the Populists – Reigning from Florida

Feb 18, 2022 | Boston University

Former President Donald Trump has been called a populist ever since the American population, news outlets, and politicians in Washington started taking his campaign seriously back in 2016. After...

The Gerrymandering Problem

Feb 18, 2022 | Boston University

Every ten years, every state redraws its electoral maps which determines where the electoral districts will be for the next ten years. In many states, it also determines what politician will...

Hungarian Democratic Backsliding During COVID-19

Feb 18, 2022 | Boston University

Viktor Orbán’s Hungary has come under increasing scrutiny and criticism since he and his party came to power in 2010. Humanitarian watchdogs, scholars, other states, and the EU have criticized his...

Why BIPOC Are on the Frontlines in the Fight Against Emerging American Authoritarianism

Feb 17, 2022 | Boston University

On June 1st, 2020, during the height of the Black Lives Matter protests and the COVID-19 pandemic, President Trump made the news once again as reports broke out of BLM protesters being violently...

January 6, 2021 and Democratic Erosion in America

Feb 17, 2022 | Boston University

The riot of the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021 was an unprecedented event in American history. That afternoon, thousands of supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol...

Poland’s Judicial Reform and Its Impacts on the Democratic Stability of Poland and EU’s Member States

Feb 16, 2022 | Boston University

"The clash between Warsaw’s supreme court and nationalist-populist government is a crisis not just for Poland, but for the whole EU. If the 28-nation bloc cannot enforce fundamental values such as...

Does the U.S. Congress Have America’s Best Interests in Mind?

Feb 16, 2022 | Boston University

The past two years of American politics have been defined by unprecedented, bizarre events such as the Capitol riots of January 6th, the rocky Presidential election of Joe Biden over Donald Trump,...

What’s Left of Poland’s Democracy?

Feb 16, 2022 | Boston University

Poland was once the model nation of a communist country fallen apart and in shambles that then came together to become a prosperous democratic country, but now Poland’s democracy is crumbling. The...

Is Australia’s Democracy as Strong as Once Believed?

Feb 16, 2022 | Boston University

Australia has long been viewed in the political world as a relatively stable democracy. In the face of the extreme partisanship that has characterised America’s political landscape over recent...