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...

The New Future of Warfare? How Social Media is Inflating Tensions Between the U.S. and Iran.

Social media is moving to the forefront of the ongoing tensions between the U.S. and Iran, with political elites from both sides of the conflict using social media as a weapon to fabricate narratives and generate AI videos to publicly denounce the actions of one...

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...

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...

Democratic Erosion in the United States

Oct 18, 2021 | University of Georgia

The purpose of this post is to examine Democratic Erosion in the context of the United States, potential strategies to mitigate democratic erosion, and how democratic erosion led to the Capitol Hill...

Tunisia’s Democracy in Turmoil

Oct 18, 2021 | Salem State University

Until very recently, Tunisia was hailed as a model of democratic progress, achieving a Global Freedom Score of 71 out of 100 on the Freedom House indicator (1). Yet, this democratic progress is now...

What Japarov Could Mean for the Future of Kyrgyzstan

Oct 17, 2021 | University of Georgia

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Kyrgyzstan was one heralded as an “island of democracy” in Central Asia. In the previous three decades, the former colony has faced a number of...

Democracy Is Unraveling in Haiti

Oct 16, 2021 | Salem State University

Is the death of Jovenel Moise the last straw in Haiti’s long democratic erosion? Following the assassination of Jovenel Moise and a contentious election fast approaching, democracy in Haiti is...

Polarization and Politics: What’s Next for America

Oct 15, 2021 | University of Georgia

Polarization has become a huge issue in today’s politics and the implications of an “in group” vs “out group” has led to a lot of political drama. There is an increasingly large gap between liberal...

Are Demagogues the Future of U.S. Democracy?

Oct 15, 2021 | University of Georgia

For anyone who has paid attention to U.S. politics over the past couple years, many blatant instances of democratic erosion have been hard to miss. Democratic erosion or backsliding is essentially...

How Can People Still Believe Trump Lost the Election?

Oct 15, 2021 | University of Georgia

Ever since the election in 2020, one of the common themes throughout conservative media is the “fact” that the election was stolen, and Donald Trump is the rightful president of our...

The Far-Right Returns to Germany

Oct 14, 2021 | University of Georgia

Since World War II, no far-right nationalist movement leaders have held any seats in the German parliament, but this changed during the 2017 German elections. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party...

Democratic Backsliding in Colombia

Oct 14, 2021 | University of Georgia

Colombia’s democracy has been on a decline for quite some time now. Evidence of democratic backsliding can be seen through acts of violence within the state, human rights abuses, and drug...