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.

The Court Takeover and Democracy: How Poland Lost Its Way

It is easy to think that a democracy ends when there is a military coup, a war, or another sudden event. But democracy can also become weaker slowly from inside the government. Poland is one example. In 2015, the Law and Justice party (PiS) won the election and formed...
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Fixing The System to Save It: How Mongolia’s Electoral Reforms Shield Democracy in a Tough Neighborhood

Can a nation surrounded entirely by autocratic giants keep its democracy alive when internal corruption threatens to pull it apart? Sitting directly between Russia and China, Mongolia stands as one of the most remarkable political anomalies of the post-Cold War era....
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Israel Cannot Renew Its Democracy While Ignoring Palestinian Freedom

A Democracy with a Boundary What does an election mean to someone who cannot vote for the government shaping their life? Israeli citizens can vote for national leaders. Palestinians in the occupied territories generally cannot, even when those leaders exercise power...
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