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.

How weak institutions led to the fall of Afghanistan’s democracy.

From 2004 through 2021, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was established after the invasion by the U.S. This invasion was a response to the September 11 attacks, and to prevent any further international terrorists from replicating. The Afghan government heavily...
Read More

Democracy in America in Historic Decline: What’s Next For the USA?

With the release of the most recent V-Dem report on world democracy, the US has reached a 60-year low dropping all the way back to levels before the civil rights era. This has been labeled as the single most dramatic decline of democracy in the world. The rate at...
Read More

Looking at Trump’s and Obama’s State of the Unions Through the Lens of Mutual Toleration

How do Trump and Obama compare to one another when we analyze their state of the union speeches based on the theory of mutual toleration?

Read More