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.

Arresting Opposition and Squashing Protests: Democratic Backsliding in Turkey Under Erdoğan

Turkey has been inching towards autocracy under Erdoğan and the AKP for the last 22 years.

2025 Romanian Elections: An Election Redo and a Barred Candidate

Only two weeks out from Presidential Elections, Romanian voters face a tough decision in deciding on the next leader of their country. The latest opinion polls show that nearly 40% of voters are still undecided on who to vote for. After all, most voters already cast...

Why Protecting American Democracy Means Coming Together In Protest

In the lead up to the 2020 presidential election, the Democratic Erosion Consortium's very own professors Robert Blair and Steven Rosenzweig wrote an article in The Boston Globe urging readers to “Get ready to protest like democracy depends on it.” The article was in...

Japan, The United States, and Democracy: A Push into Modernization

May 3, 2023 | University of Utah

Democracy is what the United States prides itself on and the very base of every political decision, using it as justification for foreign affairs like Afghanistan,...

How Claims of Fraudulent Elections Threaten Trust in American Democracy

May 3, 2023 | University of Utah

Trump supporters at a 'stop the steal' protest in Atlanta, Georgia In the past few years, the United States has experienced unprecedented levels of claims of a fraudulent or...

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...

As a Nation, We Must Reexamine and Reimagine Our Conceptions of Democracy and Justice

Oct 24, 2020 | University of Chicago

The America of today is ready to change her conceptions of Democracy and Justice for the future, but she must be cognizant of her history and equipped for the path ahead. The truth of the matter is...

Presidential Debates, Legitimate Opposition, and Democratic Erosion in the U.S.

Oct 24, 2020 | University of Chicago

Masks off. Insults exchanged. Microphones muted. The events of this year’s presidential debates have grabbed a significant portion of the US presidential election news cycle, with controversies,...

USPS Crisis as a Case of Stealth Authoritarianism

Oct 24, 2020 | University of Chicago

In the 2016 U.S Presidential election, approximately 33 million voters cast their ballots by mail, which accounted for one quarter of all ballots cast. With the COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented...

Wisconsin: A State Reflective of the United States’ Eroding Democracy

Oct 24, 2020 | University of Chicago

On April 7th, 2020, states all around the nation watched as the implosion of Wisconsin’s government occurred as there was a tug of war between a conservative state Supreme Court and a democratic...

The Issue With Court Packing

Oct 24, 2020 | University of Chicago

Since the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Congress and indeed the rest of the country has been grappling with how we should proceed in filling the late justice’s seat. The Republican and...

Authoritarianism vs. USPS

Oct 24, 2020 | University of Chicago

The United States Postal Service (USPS) has offered essential services to the people of the United States for more than 240 years. Among these services include the secure delivery of absentee...

Rewriting the Russian Constitution: A Lesson in Stealth or Overt Authoritarianism?

Oct 24, 2020 | University of Chicago

In late June of 2020 the Russian government held a nation-wide plebiscite on a series of constitutional amendments proposed earlier this year by President Vladimir Putin. Among a myriad of changes...

Does a Summer of Political Violence Spell Authoritarianism for the US?

Oct 23, 2020 | University of Chicago

In How Democracies Die, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt outline parameters which serve as warning signs regarding the erosion of democracy, one of them being the “toleration or encouragement of...