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.

Donald Trump the Nazi Reincarnate?: Godwin’s Law and How This Phenomenon is Counterproductive to Understanding Democratic Erosion

What do we hope to accomplish when comparing President Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler, a tyrannical perpetrator of genocide?

The Russia-Ukraine War Bodes Poorly for Democracy, But Not in the Way You Think

The Russia-Ukraine War is a serious threat to global democracy through the growing wave of isolationism in the United States, an entity that has typically been at the forefront of fighting authoritarianism across the world.

The Trump Administration’s Attack on USAID

The Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle USAID, increase concerns about democratic backsliding as it could result in a trend with the executive undermining institutional legitimacy.

How Moldova Advances Its Democracy by Distancing Itself from Russia

Apr 5, 2023 | University of Utah

Russia’s relations with Moldova have been problematic and increasingly aggressive, especially since Vladimir Putin’s military intervention in Ukraine. Nevertheless, this is...

Florida’s Censorship of History Puts Their Democracy at Risk

Apr 4, 2023 | University of Utah

Discomfort is a vital tool used in change. People learning about history that makes them uncomfortable forces them to understand the importance of their actions and keeps...

Exploring the Structural Causes Behind Hungary’s Backslide from Democracy

Oct 25, 2020 | University of Chicago

Earlier in 2020, while the pandemic dominated news headlines across the world, the NGO freedom house pushed out a silent but stunning report. One deeply alarming takeaway - there are now less...

Social-Political Distance: Problematic Partisanship in Remote Campaigns

Oct 25, 2020 | Suffolk University

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated weaknesses present in democracies across the world. Freedom House reported that the condition of democracy and human rights has worsened in 80 countries, much...

President Erdogan and the Preeminence of AKP Rule Devastates Turkey’s Democracy

Oct 25, 2020 | Suffolk University

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has challenged Turkey's scant democracy, through exceptional use of oppression against journalism and democratic representation, extreme military hostilities...

Facebook and Content Moderation: An Inconspicuous Driver of Democratic Erosion

Oct 25, 2020 | Williams College

In 2004, in a small dorm room at Harvard University, Facebook was born. A platform initially designed for American college students to network and meet each other has grown to host nearly 3 billion...

The Zoom Campaign: Political Participation During COVID

Oct 24, 2020 | Suffolk University

The Presidency of Donald Trump has seen the soft guard rails of our democracy eroded. For the first time in recent memory, the protections that many thought were intertwined with American style...

New Regime, Age-Old Conflict: Legitimacy Pressure Pushes Post-Revolution Armenia into War

Oct 24, 2020 | Williams College

Armenia enters new fighting over an old dispute, and the fledgling democracy's pursuit of legitimacy is playing a role. Not only was legitimacy instrumental in the ouster of former Prime Minister...

The Politicization of the Pandemic

Oct 24, 2020 | University of Chicago

Levitsky and Ziblatt write that ‘extreme polarization can kill democracies.’ [1] Polarization of politics in the US has left Americans not only at risk from a weakening of democracy, but it has also...

Why Myanmar’s Upcoming “Democratic” Election Is a Case for Democratic Erosion

Oct 24, 2020 | University of Chicago

The National League of Democracy’s (NLD) landslide victory in Myanmar’s 2015 election seemingly marked a huge milestone for a country that had once been governed by a military junta for over five...

Loyalty Over Truth: The War Between Trump and U.S. Intelligence Agencies

Oct 24, 2020 | University of Chicago

On January 29, 2019, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and other intelligence agency leaders appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee to present their findings on the major...