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.

Hungary: From Championship of Democratization to Hybrid Regime of Electoral Autocracy

Jan 5, 2023 | Sabanci University

Once described as the champion of the third wave of democratization in Europe, Hungary has become a pioneer of democratic backsliding. The concept of democratic backsliding...

How Corruption and Nepotism Hinder Peru’s Consolidation of Democracy

Jan 5, 2023 | Sabanci University

A recent attempted coup has rocked Peru. Former president Pedro Castillo dissolved congress and attempted to install a “Government of Exception” in the early hours of...

North Korea as a Populist Regime

Oct 23, 2020 | University of Chicago

The political structure of a country is often presented on a spectrum; it is the degree of democracy or autocracy rather than a dichotomous classification. [1] For sure, many scholars have argued...

The Paradox of Trump’s Middle Class Supporters

Oct 23, 2020 | University of Chicago

In his 1959 book “Some Social Requisites of Democracy,” American sociologist and democratic theorist Seymour Lipset advanced a model of what made certain democracies stable and others unstable. He...

Even Justice Under Law

Oct 23, 2020 | University of Chicago

After the passing of Justice Scalia in 2016, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that the Senate would not consider any nomination until a new president was elected. Democrats were...

Packing the Court and the Future of Voting Rights in the U.S.

Oct 22, 2020 | University of Chicago

On Monday, the Supreme Court split four to four in a decision on whether Pennsylvania absentee ballots received up to three days after election day could be counted, allowing...

COVID-19 and the Serbian Case

Oct 22, 2020 | University of Chicago

“One of the great ironies of how democracies die is that the very defense of democracy is often used as a pretext for its subversion.” This line from Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt’s book How...

Will Ukraine’s President Zelenskiy Learn From His Predecessors?

Oct 22, 2020 | University of Chicago

The Ukrainian people have been through a lot. According to a 2019 Pew Poll, 81% of Ukrainians see a fair judicial system as one of the most important priorities, nevertheless, promises of judicial...

Political Polarization and the American Democracy

Oct 22, 2020 | University of Chicago

In the United States, the people want democracy. In fact, recent work by the Pew Research Center finds that "while Americans generally agree on democratic ideals and values [...] they see the...

The Youth Vote, or Lack Thereof

Oct 22, 2020 | Suffolk University

My first experience with our democratic system was the 2012 Presidential Election. Though only ten or eleven at the time, and not having a single clue what was going on, I very distinctly remember...

Election Manipulation Threatens U.S Democracy

Oct 22, 2020 | Brown University

One month before Election Day, Republican Governor Greg Abbott issued two executive orders altering the newfound role of Texas as a swing state in the 2020 federal elections. First, he restricted...