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.

TUNISIA’S AUTHORITARIAN TURN: How President Kais Saied Is Dismantling the Arab Spring’s Only Democracy

When Tunisia's citizens overthrew their dictator in 2011, the world hailed Tunisia's emergence from this uprising as the only country to become a true democracy. For several years, Tunisia served as solid evidence that democracy was a realistic outcome of the Arab...

How Trump and his federal forces are using America’s polarization problem to dismantle American democracy

America is suffering from intense affective polarization, and Trump is using this polarization and federal forces to diminish important avenues for horizontal accountability, vertical accountability, and resistance.

Indefinite Term Limits: How Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele is Further Entrenching His Power

Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele aims to entrench his executive power through the introduction of indefinite term limits.

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...

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...

Analyzing Polarization and Democratic Politics: The SAVE Act

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

Last week, the House passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act with a large amount of Republican support and four democratic votes. The bill requires all voters to provide proof of U.S....

Turkey: The End of “Competitive Authoritarianism”?

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

On March 19, 2025, the top opposition candidate, Ekrem Imamoglu, was arrested four days prior to confirmation as the opposition party’s candidate for president. Turkey’s presidential elections are...

Why Protecting American Democracy Means Coming Together In Protest

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

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...

Prabowo Dismantling Democracy, One Law at a Time

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

On March 20, 2025, Indonesia’s Parliament approved revisions to their Indonesian National Military (TNI) Law No. 34/2004, raising concerns for civilians across the country. President Prabowo...

Land of the Free, Home of the… Silent? Democratic Backsliding in Trump’s America

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

At one point in the not-so-distant past, the words “democracy” and “America” were seemingly synonymous. Since the 2016 election, the American political landscape has experienced dramatic democratic...

Populism as Democratic Medicine: Reiwa Shinsengumi and Japan’s Political Apathy

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

Revisiting Japan’s Democratic Stagnation Populism is often portrayed as a toxin to democracy—an anti-pluralist, anti-institutional movement that undermines liberal norms. Yet, in certain contexts,...

How to Erode a Democracy: Hungary’s Illiberal Turn Under Orbán

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán turned Hungary from a hopeful post-communist democracy into the first “illiberal democracy” since taking office in 2010. Originally rated “Free, Hungary is now only...

Congress Party vs BJP

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

Members of the Congress Party have been charged with money laundering in connection to the National Herald case. Rahul and Sonia Gandhi, high-status figures of the Congress Party in India, are being...

Trump vs The Judiciary: A Brief Spat or a Wider Issue?

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

In mid-March, Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported from the United States under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. This is despite the fact that Mr. Garcia was barred from being deported under an order...