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...

Buying Injustice: The Hidden Harms of this Act.

Are we looking to create a thriving society, or are we allowing fear into the lives of immigrant families? As new immigration policies appear, the question become, how do we prevent the changes that involve separating families and dismantling the place that...

Trump Targets Former CISA Director

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

On April 9, 2025, Donald Trump issued a presidential memorandum titled “Addressing Risks from Chris Krebs and Government Censorship.” The memo claimed that Chris Krebs “is a...

The Death Files: The Trump Administration’s Dangerous and Anti-Democratic ‘Self-Deportation’ Strategy

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

A social security master-list previously known as the ‘Death Master List’ meant for invalidating the social security numbers of deceased individuals is being repurposed in...

Democratic Erosion – El Salvador

Apr 12, 2021 | Georgia State University

El Salvador has always had challenges in becoming a democracy. El Salvador has a difficult past when it has come to becoming a democratic state. The country has been troubled with high rates of...

Digital Populism: The Risk of the New Political Outsider

Apr 12, 2021 | Northeastern University

When Donald Trump tweeted, the world listened. More than that, the world reacted. A new @realdonaldtrump Tweet represented an endless array of possibilities—would he announce a new policy? Refute...

Armenia’s Postwar Political Crisis

Apr 11, 2021 | American University

On February 25, 2021 several dozen Armenian army officers and senior military leaders issued a letter calling for the Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, and his cabinet, to resign. The move came in...

Civil Society and Democratic Decline: A Look at Poland

Apr 11, 2021 | American University

Poland was once seen as a model post-Soviet transition to democracy. Between 1989 and 2014, Poland built democratic institutions, joined the EU, NATO, and the OSCE, and experienced significant...

Elites as Key to Elimination of Racial Injustice in America’s Government Institutions

Apr 11, 2021 | Rollins College

How much power do the masses have when it comes to preventing racial discrimination from bureacratic and state-level government institutions? As Georgia governor, Brian Kemp, demonstrates with the...

How Did We Get Here? Right Wing Populism in Poland

Apr 9, 2021 | American University

Several dozen members of the National Radical Camp (ONR) demonstrate against immigration in Warsaw, Poland, on Nov. 24, 2018. Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images and Foreign Policy There can be...

The EU and Its Populist Problem

Apr 9, 2021 | American University

Does the European Union (EU) have a populist problem? While many cannot even agree on what populism is, my answer to the question is an emphatic “Yes.” Media and political discourse in Western...

Virtual and Conventional Civil Society in Belarus

Apr 9, 2021 | American University

Protestors took to the streets to oppose the fraudulent election of “Europe’s Last Dictator” Alexander Lukashenko in the 2020 Belarusian presidential elections. Their defiance of the Lukashenko...

#VotoApruebo: How National Referenda Are Saving Chile’s Democracy

Apr 9, 2021 | American University

On October 25th, 2020, millions of Chileans at home and abroad voted overwhelmingly in favor of scrapping the 1980 Constitution. Furthermore, the populous voted in favor of establishing a...