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.

De-Orbánization Looks a Lot Like Orbánization. Three Tests Will Tell Them Apart.

Péter Magyar's Tisza government says it is dismantling the system Viktor Orbán built over sixteen years. Several of its tools are the ones this course treats as warning signs of democratic erosion: constitutional amendments that removed Orbán-era officeholders,...

The Trump Administration’s use DHS funds for advertisements: breaking, or bending the rules?

In recent news, the Trump administration has been accused of using Department of Homeland Security funds to pay for President Trump's midterm election advertisements. According to federal budget and contracting records, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), led...

When Legal Institutions Weaken Political Competition in Turkey

Democratic erosion does not always happen in the form of a military invasion or by suddenly ending elections. It can happen slowly, with elections, courts and other democratic institutions still in place. What happened recently with Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and...

Defending Democracy While Restricting Press Freedom in Moldova

Oct 7, 2026 | George Mason University

Can a democratic government protect democracy while restricting press freedom? Ahead of the 2025 parliamentary election, the Moldovan government used broad emergency powers...

Trump’s Press Ban and The Courts Response

Oct 2, 2026 | Boston University

Access to unbarred media is fundamental to maintaining the integrity of a democratic country. Without independent media, the stream of information to voters is disrupted...

Constitutional Hardball and the Politics of Mail Voting

Oct 2, 2026 | Boston University

Trump's March 2026 executive order on mail voting is best understood as constitutional hardball, in Levitsky and Ziblatt's sense, rather than as ordinary election-security policy. It is dangerous...

Tunisia’s Post-Arab Spring Decline: Courts as Tools of Democratic Erosion

Oct 2, 2026 | Boston University

For much of the decade following the Arab Spring, Tunisia was celebrated as the movement’s only lasting democratic success. While uprisings elsewhere produced civil war, renewed dictatorship, or...

India’s Opposition vs. the Election Commission

Oct 2, 2026 | Boston University

India's opposition parties say the country's elections are being rigged, challenging the election institute. Their members of parliament plan to march to the Election Commission, the agency that...

Can the Threat of Federal Agents at Polling Places Undermine Democratic Participation?

Oct 2, 2026 | Boston University

What is Happening? In the upcoming midterm elections taking place November 3, 2026, the Trump administration has faced growing questions regarding whether federal law enforcement agents, including...

Political Parties Increasing Dislike of Each Other in Contemporary America

Oct 2, 2026 | Boston University

In May, a survey put out by Pew Research Center found that 58% of Democrats and 59% of Republicans viewed the opposing party in a negative and unfavorable light. Additionally, 26% of Americans view...

The Republicans’ Midterm Campaign is about Legitimacy, Not Rules

Oct 2, 2026 | Boston University

Since early 2025, the Justice Department has filed 31 lawsuits seeking states’ voter data, in an effort to obtain voter rolls containing sensitive information about registered voters in their...

The White House Press Ban Shows What Happens When Forbearance Fails

Oct 2, 2026 | Boston University, Universities

On September 18, President Trump announced a ban on CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House. Within a week, federal judge Timothy Kelly replied with an order restoring those news outlets'...

Borrowed Tools: Can Hungary Rebuild Its Democracy With Orbán’s Playbook?

Oct 2, 2026 | Boston University

In 2011, Viktor Orbán’s government cleared hundreds of judges from Hungary’s courts by suddenly lowering their retirement age. Fifteen years later the same strategy was utilized against his own...

Neg Bannan Nan (Banana Man) to Barbecue : A Democracy in Free Fall

Oct 2, 2026 | Boston University

On July 7, 2021, Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated at his home, and the suspects and conspiracy theories surrounding the attack have fallen on political opponents, his own wife,...