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.

Authoritarianism in Singapore: Challenging Narratives of a Benevolent British Empire

British imperialism is often credited with spreading democracy, but Singapore’s colonial past shows how it can also lay the groundwork for enduring authoritarianism.

You Can’t Sit with Us: The Practice of Democratic Gatekeeping and How It Has Saved Democracies

At the 11th hour of the 2024 election many Republican politicians and members of congress took a stance against Republican candidate, Donald Trump. Through the “Republicans for Harris” tagline, they urged their supporters through various forms of appeals to vote...

The Erosion of an Already Weak Democracy: The Rise and Fall of Jovenel Moïse

Jovenel Moïse's presidency marked a dangerous shift from Haiti's already shaky democracy to overt authoritarianism. Delayed elections, unchecked abuse of executive power, and violent suppression of resistance became the norm. By the time of his assassination in 2021,...

Reserve Building Area Law in the Autocratic Presidential System Türkiye

Dec 26, 2023 | Sabanci University

After the constitutional referendum in 2017 Turkey, the state started a new era of its democratic history. In 2017 Turkey held a referendum and according to that referendum...

Suspicions of Speeches

Dec 8, 2023 | University of Memphis

Speeches are a political tool commonly used worldwide, but when they are used in a manner that distinctively promotes one's agenda and avoids accountability, it becomes...

Virtual Civil Society Networks and the Milk Tea Alliance

Apr 12, 2021 | American University

As the world grows more interconnected through the proliferation of the internet, social media and other instant messaging technology will play an increased role in the fight against...

Democratic Erosion – El Salvador

Apr 12, 2021 | Georgia State University

El Salvador has always had challenges in becoming a democracy. El Salvador has a difficult past when it has come to becoming a democratic state. The country has been troubled with high rates of...

Digital Populism: The Risk of the New Political Outsider

Apr 12, 2021 | Northeastern University

When Donald Trump tweeted, the world listened. More than that, the world reacted. A new @realdonaldtrump Tweet represented an endless array of possibilities—would he announce a new policy? Refute...

Armenia’s Postwar Political Crisis

Apr 11, 2021 | American University

On February 25, 2021 several dozen Armenian army officers and senior military leaders issued a letter calling for the Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, and his cabinet, to resign. The move came in...

Civil Society and Democratic Decline: A Look at Poland

Apr 11, 2021 | American University

Poland was once seen as a model post-Soviet transition to democracy. Between 1989 and 2014, Poland built democratic institutions, joined the EU, NATO, and the OSCE, and experienced significant...

Elites as Key to Elimination of Racial Injustice in America’s Government Institutions

Apr 11, 2021 | Rollins College

How much power do the masses have when it comes to preventing racial discrimination from bureacratic and state-level government institutions? As Georgia governor, Brian Kemp, demonstrates with the...

How Did We Get Here? Right Wing Populism in Poland

Apr 9, 2021 | American University

Several dozen members of the National Radical Camp (ONR) demonstrate against immigration in Warsaw, Poland, on Nov. 24, 2018. Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images and Foreign Policy There can be...

The EU and Its Populist Problem

Apr 9, 2021 | American University

Does the European Union (EU) have a populist problem? While many cannot even agree on what populism is, my answer to the question is an emphatic “Yes.” Media and political discourse in Western...

Virtual and Conventional Civil Society in Belarus

Apr 9, 2021 | American University

Protestors took to the streets to oppose the fraudulent election of “Europe’s Last Dictator” Alexander Lukashenko in the 2020 Belarusian presidential elections. Their defiance of the Lukashenko...