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 blogs reflect the views of the student authors, and not those of the Democratic Erosion Consortium.

Hungary: A Case Study of Democratic Backsliding in the European Union

Hungary’s gradual democratic backsliding under Viktor Orbán demonstrates how legal reforms, centralized executive power, and weakened institutional checks can erode democracy from within, turning a once-promising post-communist transition into a partially free, delegative system

How Pakistans Government has Backslided Further since Imran Khan’s arrest

Democratic erosion is a gradual process that has been an ongoing process in Pakistan. While the country still holds elections and operates under the 1973 constitution, the quality of the democracy has weakened especially since Imran Khan, the former prime minister,...

Tunisia: A Case Study of Democratic Backsliding and the Impetus call for Civil Democracy

Since the demand for democracy emerged during the Arab Spring across many middle eastern countries, the origin country Tunisia have been countlessly facing many challenges in their struggle against authoritarian resurgence. What factors have contributed to...

Election Denialism Might be The New Normal in The United States

Feb 17, 2026 | Boston University

In 2021, Trump gave a speech at his “Save America” Rally, where he repeated false claims of election fraud. Shortly after the rally, a crowd of MAGA supporters broke into...

Stealth Authoritarianism in Tunisia

Feb 14, 2026 | Boston University

According to Al Jazeera, Tunisia’s January 2026 sentencing of two journalists to three year prison terms for allegedly “spreading false news" illustrates the broader pattern...

Poland Shows How Democracy Can Bend, But Not Break

Feb 13, 2026 | Boston University

The people of Poland have witnessed democratic norms erode over the past decade, marked by the absence of credible courts, judicial collapse, and a lack of accountability. These actions were carried...

Ongoing Democratic Erosion in Brazil After Bolsonaro

Feb 13, 2026 | Boston University

Brazil’s democracy, as of recent years, has faced significant erosion as a result of former president Jair Bolsonaro’s actions as a semi-loyalist who frequently rejected political norms, two of...

The Deeper Implications of Trump’s Political Labeling

Feb 13, 2026 | Boston University

Most people who have been keeping up with American politics over the past few years are familiar with Donald Trump’s creative language for his opposition. He titled Joe Biden “Sleepy Joe”, Kamala...

Takaichi’s Era: Democracy on the Edge?

Feb 13, 2026 | Boston University

Japan has long been regarded as a consolidated parliamentary democracy since the post–World War II constitutional reforms, a status reaffirmed by its classification as a “liberal democracy” in the...

Orbán and the Courts: Why Hungary’s Democracy Is at Risk

Feb 13, 2026 | Boston University

Orbán and the Courts: Why Hungary’s Democracy Is at Risk Is Hungary’s Democracy Still Alive? If you’ve been following European politics, you might have seen news about Viktor Orbán and Budapest’s...

Democratic Backsliding in the 2025 Tanzanian Presidential Election

Feb 13, 2026 | Boston University

In the past year, Tanzania has been dealing with tensions surrounding their presidential election in October. There have been claims of election tampering, insurgency, and suppression of the...

Italy Through the Lens of Democratic Erosion

Feb 13, 2026 | Boston University

Are We Still Living in a WEIRD World? In the last decade, the world has witnessed a growing instability of democratic institutions in countries considered to be consolidated democracies–the...

Stealth Authoritarianism in El Salvador

Feb 13, 2026 | Boston University

In our assigned reading by Olán Varol, he describes his theory of “stealth authoritarianism” as a way that “the new generation of authoritarians cloak repressive measures under the mask of law,...

How The White House Takeover of the Press Pool Threatens Democracy

Feb 13, 2026 | Boston University, Universities

Since its creation in 1914, the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) has managed and coordinated a rotating press pool that is allotted coverage to White House briefings. Under this...