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...

The Lack of Humanitarian Aid in Haiti

Apr 21, 2024 | Ursinus College

Haiti is currently facing a political and social crisis. The rest of the world has fallen silent in terms of providing necessary aid and military action to help the victims...

Corruption, Economics, and Catastrophe: Democratic Erosion in Brazil

Apr 19, 2024 | William Jewell College

Today in Brazil, corruption charges could undermine democracy. While the democracy holds competitive elections and sits on a 72% "free" scale, the country holds high when it...

What Is to Blame for the World’s Democratic Backsliding?

Feb 16, 2022 | Boston University

There have been several ebbs and flows in the amount of democratic nations in the past few centuries, and many of which are the results of world events and other far-reaching moments in history. As...

States’ Dismantling of The VRA of 1965: What It Means For The Future Of American Democracy

Feb 16, 2022 | Boston University

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is arguably one of the most important pieces of legislation passed by Congress and signed into law during the twentieth century. The act is an essential part of...

Nicaragua’s Fall of Democracy

Feb 16, 2022 | Boston University

May Day banner Sandinista Workers Federation/ SLR images In November of 2021, when presidential elections were being held, a slogan quedate en casa was adopted to encourage those who opposed Daniel...

Poland’s Dismissal of EU Rule of Law: Concern for Democratic Backsliding

Feb 16, 2022 | Boston University

A man holds a banner with Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of ruling party Law and Justice (PiS) with the slogan "Program of the party program of the nation, Stop Demoktaturze (combine words democracy and...

How Governments’ COVID-19 Response May Bring Us a Black-Mirror Future

Feb 16, 2022 | Boston University

By: Wayne Mok Which rights truly make a person empowered? A society democratic? These are questions that many brilliant minds have grappled with for centuries, if not millennia. There may never be a...

Government Response to the January 6th Riot

Feb 15, 2022 | Ohio State University

The January 6th riot was a protest to the certification of the 2020 election results and caused lots of damage to the physical Capitol building as well as the damage to the ideas of American...

Military Coup Putting Democracy at Risk in Myanmar

Feb 15, 2022 | Boston University

The military coup on February 1, 2021 in Myanmar succeeded in doing something that the Republican Party could not accomplish in the United States after the election of 2020; overthrowing a...

Redistricting’s Partisan Weaponization is Catalyzing Democratic Backsliding

Feb 15, 2022 | Boston University

Every ten years, state legislatures, independent commissions, politician commissions, advisory commissions, and backup commissions redraw legislative boundaries across the country. The redrawing,...

Donald Trump’s Stealth Authoritarianism in Contesting the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election

Feb 14, 2022 | Ohio State University

More and more news comes out about former President Donald Trump’s efforts to refute and overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The results of that election demonstrated President...