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.

New strategies for avoiding electoral defeat: manoeuvre prior and after elections on the example of Turkey’s

Jan 1, 2023 | Sabanci University

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a practitioner of new authoritarian methods, initiated in the aftermath of the 2015 parliamentary elections a new concept of authoritarian exercise of...

Competitive Authoritarianism in Turkey

Dec 31, 2022 | Sabanci University

In the last decade, Turkey's political system has been characterized by polarization, democratic backsliding, competitive authoritarianism, and populism (Moral, 2021)....

The World’s Largest Democracy in Decline? The Threat of Hindu Nationalism in Modi’s India

Oct 18, 2020 | University of Georgia

Mob violence and mass rioting engulfed New Delhi earlier this year, with images of defenseless Indian Muslims beaten in the streets; their faces bloodied, their businesses and homes turned to ash....

Every Vote Matters

Oct 18, 2020 | Suffolk University

These days, fall 2020, if you take a walk around downtown Boston, you’ll see that every store, café or restaurant has a poster, sticker, or an entire booklet with the word “vote” on it. When...

What Causes Racism Still Exists

Oct 18, 2020 | Suffolk University

October 17, 2020 by Surochinee Santiwisak On Wednesday, September 30, 2020, a zoom conference began around 7 p.m. hosted by Professors Pamela Newkirk and Deborah Willis of New York University. The...

Don’t Panic: Voting in a Pandemic

Oct 18, 2020 | Suffolk University

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a magnitude of unforeseen challenges to the 2020 Presidential election. With a majority of the nation still concerned for their safety, voting this year looks far...

Miscommunication: The Downfall of American Democracy

Oct 18, 2020 | Suffolk University

A few weeks ago, I was honored to have been a viewer of “America’s Divided Mind: Understanding the Psychology that Drives Us Apart”. This panel of experts raised a great deal of important ideas...

A New Vision for the Boston Common

Oct 18, 2020 | Suffolk University

As a college student who walks through the Boston Common to get to class on time and overlooks the park from my dorm window, it is refreshing to know that the Boston Parks and Recreation Department...

Democratic Decline and COVID-19

Oct 17, 2020 | Suffolk University

Photo from Freedom House's Freedom in the World 2019 Report Civic Engagement On October 8th, I attended the webinar “Authoritarianism and Democratic Decline” hosted by Freedom House. The engaging...

Suffolk Votes: A Mission To Increase Voter Turnout

Oct 17, 2020 | Suffolk University

Can young voters change their low turnout history in the 2020 Presidential Election? As a child, my mother always made a point to drag me along with her to all elections, big or small. She tried to...

Voting and Electoral Manipulation

Oct 17, 2020 | Suffolk University

Civic Engagement For my civic engagement I joined a virtual roundtable on voting and electoral manipulation. I learned many insightful things about the state of our Democracy that I had not...