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 are student blog posts written by student participants in the Democratic Erosion Course. These posts were not written by nor represent the views of the Democratic Erosion Consortium.

Food Security is Rooted Abroad

Global fertilizer supply chains connect geopolitical events abroad to food production at home in ways most consumers don’t see.

The Meaning of Silence : What the moment of silence for Melissa Hortman says about American democracy

On June 14, 2025, the lives of Melissa Hortman who was a House speaker in Minnesota and her husband Mark were taken in what authorities believe to be a politically motivated act of violence. The same day Senator John Hoffman and his wife were also shot and...

Buying Injustice: The Hidden Harms of this Act.

Are we looking to create a thriving society, or are we allowing fear into the lives of immigrant families? As new immigration policies appear, the question become, how do we prevent the changes that involve separating families and dismantling the place that...

Fifteen Years After the Jasmine Revolution: Is Democracy in Tunisia Backsliding?

Feb 12, 2026 | Boston University

On January 14, 2026, Tunisia celebrated 15 years since it ousted authoritarian leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The Jasmine Revolution, named after the country’s national...

Funding Backsliding: How Hungary Tests the Limits of EU Democratic Enforcement

Feb 12, 2026 | Boston University

The European Union recently froze 10 billion euros in payments to Hungary, over concern that the Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, had failed to carry out promised judicial...

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Threatens Egypt’s Economy – From Backsliding to Backsliding

Jun 9, 2022 | University of California, San Diego

Construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam History of the Nile River For decades Egypt and Ethiopia have been in conflict over the Nile river. With the Nile river flowing from south to...

How Did Argentina Implement LGBTQ Rights by Renewing the Legitimacy Frames of the Social Movements?

Jun 9, 2022 | University of California, San Diego

In June 2021, Argentina passed a new bill setting a 1% quota for transgender people working in the public sector. As a late-comer democracy, Argentina was the first country in Latin America to...

Disinformation in regards to the Ukraine Crisis

Jun 9, 2022 | University of California, San Diego

Both Russia and Ukraine employ disinformation in hopes of effectively determining who decidedly depicts their version of events. As best stated within the Politico article by Mark Scott, "As the war...

The Dangers of Orban’s Rule by Decree in Hungary

Jun 8, 2022 | University of California, San Diego

When a global pandemic is sweeping through one’s country, it is expected that someone in power would do everything they could to save the most amount of their people possible. Throughout much of the...

Indonesia: Polarization of the Most Crowded Muslim Democracy

Jun 8, 2022 | Koç University

Indonesia’s Polarization on the Edges of Power, Secularism and Power Joko Widodo, current president of Indonesia ( derived from The Economist, 2019) How does polarization contribute to...

The Shanghai Epidemic: Internet Censorship in Authoritarian Governance and Proliferated Rumors Had Resulted in Misinformation and Suppressed Civil Liberty

Jun 8, 2022 | University of California, San Diego

This spring, with the cancellation of pandemic restrictions in most parts of the world, China became the last large country to maintain the zero tolerance to COVID-19. Its “Dynamic Zeroing Out”...

Participation in Politics of Indigenous Communities in Colombia: Commission for the Comprehensive Development of an Indigenous Policy

Jun 8, 2022 | Koç University

Even though Colombia has fairly well-developed legal and institutional provisions to accommodate its indigenous citizens, there has to be a real and effective commitment from the government in order...

National Internet Gateway: Cambodia’s Chokehold over Internet Freedom

Jun 8, 2022 | Koç University

Cambodia’s new law regarding internet use could be a further step taken by the government to censor dissent and restrict free speech. When Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen signed a sub-decree on the...

Corruption in Guatemala Is Reaching a Point of No Return for Democracy

Jun 8, 2022 | University of California, San Diego

The current state of Guatemalan politics strikes fear in its citizens and foreign policy analysts about the decline of democracy in the country, but first, it is important to understand that these...