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.

The New Nepal: A Model or An Outlier?

Recent uprisings in Nepal, Bangladesh, and Madagascar (just to name a few) have highlighted younger generations’ demands for anticorruption and better political representation. Specifically, the 2025 uprising in Nepal illustrates GenZ’s potential for...

Challenging Erdoğan’s Autocracy: Resistance to Democratic Erosion in Türkiye

Resistance to the Erdoğan regime in Türkiye has maintained a presence in local and national government, found multigenerational support in academia, and been energized by young Turks looking for a more democratic future for their home.

Elimination of Accountability in Nicaragua under the Ortega regime

Nicaragua under Daniel Ortega has seen its presidential republic downgraded from a competitive democracy to an authoritarian regime, where the government has been more focused on the suppression of its opposition rather than improving the overall quality of life for...

Democratic Backsliding: Be Observant

Apr 20, 2026 | Suffolk University

Setting the Stage for Autocracy Democratic backsliding is nothing if not the gradual death of democracy. Democracy is eroded through incremental steps taken by the dominant...

Propaganda, The Iran War, and Democratic Erosion

Apr 20, 2026 | Suffolk University

The U.S. response to the Iran conflict demonstrates how propaganda and narrative manipulation transform foreign policy into a domestic political tool, contributing to...

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

Mar 1, 2026 | Arizona State University

Since the conclusion of the Cold War and the collapse of Soviet influence in Central and Eastern Europe, many countries embraced liberal democracy as the ultimate stage of political...

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

Feb 27, 2026 | Boston University

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...

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

Feb 22, 2026 | Arizona State University

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...

Examining Democratic Backsliding Through the Actions of ICE

Feb 20, 2026 | Salem State University

The disruption and terror produced by ICE agents have spread rapidly across the United States, having devastating impacts on big cities and small towns alike. In Leominster, Massachusetts — a town...

How Trump is using Stealth Authority

Feb 19, 2026 | Boston University

Donald Trump has partook in many actions that concern many about the health of American democracy. While deeply explored by many people and complaints about him are common, we must not become numb...

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 the US Capitol and...

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 of democratic erosion...

AI as Democratic Erosion by Proxy: Trump, Synthetic Media, and the Normalization of Anti-Pluralism

Feb 14, 2026 | Boston University

Donald Trump’s use of AI-generated media, particularly content that fabricates or manipulates the speech and actions of political opponents, constitutes a form of democratic erosion by proxy: it...

Is India Facing Democratic Backsliding?

Feb 13, 2026 | Boston University

Within the past decade, political institutions have listed India’s democracy in a steady decline. The V-Dem Institute lists India as #100 out of 179 countries, classifying it as an “electoral...