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.

The Role of COVID-19 in Latin America’s Democratic Erosion

Jan 12, 2023 | Sabanci University

The current global crisis of democracy also extends to Latin America, where half of the countries display signs of democratic erosion. In this context, the COVID-19 pandemic...

Americans Care About Their Vote: A Student’s Perspective On Poll Working

Jan 11, 2023 | Georgia State University Perimeter College

By: Kimberly Brown Georgia State University With political polarization levels being higher than ever seen, citizens are divided on almost every belief: except voting. The...

The Thai Government and Their Textbook Erosion

Oct 23, 2020 | University of Chicago

The Thai Government has demonstrated various textbook examples of authoritarianism and democratic erosion in the past year or so, and protests continuing despite COVID concerns exemplifies the...

In This Election, It’s Not Democrat or Republican on the Ballot– It’s Democracy

Oct 23, 2020 | University of Chicago

After a summer marked by a global health crisis, social upheaval, and a devastating economic downturn, the stakes of an American presidential election have never been higher. And with early voting...

Thailand’s Hypocrisy: A Case Study of Stealth Authoritarianism

Oct 23, 2020 | University of Chicago

Though the Thai government does not necessarily hide its autocratic tendencies, it is far from willing to let go of the democratic label. On October 15th 2020, after three months of student-led...

Unions and Political Representation: How the Decline of Collective Bargaining Threatens Democracy

Oct 23, 2020 | University of Chicago

In the United States, union membership has set a national standard – a north star – for employee protections, labor rights, and political organization in the workplace. However, since the 1980’s,...

The Danger of Trump’s Rhetoric in American Democracy

Oct 23, 2020 | University of Chicago

In 2016, a man with no political experience and little political support was elected president of the United States. Previously, no president had been elected without a background in government or...

Constitutional Hardball and the United States Supreme Court

Oct 23, 2020 | University of Chicago

In their seminal work How Democracies Die, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt identify two principal constitutional guardrails that, they argue, have allowed democracy to survive in the United...

The End of Nicaraguan Democracy

Oct 23, 2020 | University of Chicago

In 1984, Daniel Ortega of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) won the presidency after having overthrown the almost ten-year dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza Debayle. Ortega served one...

The Threat Against Democracy in the Era of “Fake News”

Oct 23, 2020 | University of Chicago

In 2016, American trust of mass media was at an all-time low. Gallup found that of 1,020 adult Americans surveyed, 32% reported having a “great deal/fair amount” of trust in the media. When sorted...

The Fourth Estate: Democracy, Journalism, and the Social Media Age

Oct 23, 2020 | University of Chicago

According to James Carey, "without journalism there is no democracy, but without democracy there is no journalism either.” In other words, the ability of journalism to inform citizens of a...