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.

How Democracy Erodes: A Comparison between the U.S. and Brazil

Both the United States under President Trump and Brazil under Jair Bolsonaro experienced a period of anti-democratic rhetoric. That led to the decline of significant indicators of stable democratic regimes. Among these indicators are election intimidation, attacks on...

Why The Save Act Misses The Mark

The current administration's push for the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act has become yet another polarizing topic between the left and the right. The SAVE America Act mandates voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship at the time of...

The Election That May Save Hungary’s Democracy

"Today we won because the Hungarian people didn't ask what their country could do for them, but what they could do for their country," -Péter Magyar Hungary just held its most consequential election in a generation, bringing an end to Viktor Orbán’s sixteen year reign...

Silencing the Bench: How Poland’s “Muzzle Law” Accelerates Democratic Erosion

Apr 19, 2026 | Suffolk University

Democracy depends on more than just elections: it requires strong independent institutions, specifically courts, that can check and balance political power. In Poland, a...

What Does the United States Democracy Have in Store?

Apr 19, 2026 | Suffolk University

The United States has always had a fair democracy, but in a year our democracy has fallen. One President has made tremendous changes, but many of these changes...

Funding Backsliding: How Hungary Tests the Limits of EU Democratic Enforcement

Feb 12, 2026 | Boston University

The European Union recently froze 10 billion euros in payments to Hungary, over concern that the Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, had failed to carry out promised judicial reforms. In 2022, the...

ANO 2011, Andrej Babiš, and Implications of the Fall 2025 Election on Czech Democracy

Feb 12, 2026 | Boston University

On October 3 and 4, 2025, the Czech Republic held its quadrennial Chamber of Deputies (Lower house of Parliament) election, which resulted in a decisive victory for ANO 2011, a right-wing populist...

Legal but Corrosive: Trump’s Plan to Withdraw the U.S. From Several International Organizations

Feb 12, 2026 | Boston University

At the start of this calendar year, rumors started circulating in the White House that President Trump aims to withdraw the U.S. from 66 International Organizations. Many of these organizations...

The Illusion of Elections: How Authoritarian Power Undermines Democratic Legitimacy in Myanmar

Jan 10, 2026 | University of the Philippines, Diliman

Democracy is often framed as a straightforward process in which citizens elect their leaders and political authority reflects popular will. Yet the presence of elections alone does not guarantee...

Georgia’s Foreign Agents Law and Quiet Death of Democratic Accountability

Jan 8, 2026 | University of Pittsburgh

In May of 2024, thousands of Georgians filled the streets of the capital city, Tbilisi, chanting for the country to abandon “Kremlin-style” law, as police fired water cannons and arrested protestors...

The Boiling Point of Election Violence: Democratic Erosion in Tanzania

Jan 1, 2026 | University of Pittsburgh

Once hailed for its relative stability in an otherwise politically volatile East Africa, Tanzania has exploded into violence and political protest following the controversial reelection of President...

Amnesty for Atrocities: Peru’s Democratic Backsliding in the Shadow of Fujimori

Dec 18, 2025 | University of Pittsburgh

On August 13 2025, recently impeached Peruvian President Dina Boluarte signed bill No. 366 of 2023 into law, which provided amnesty to those who committed crimes against humanity during the...

What the Madhesi Movement Reveals About Nepal’s Democratic Erosion

Dec 17, 2025 | University of Pittsburgh

Nepal’s Madhesi community lives in the Tarai plains along the southern border, a region culturally intertwined with northern India. Madhesis speak Maithili, Bhojpuri, Awadhi, and Hindi, maintain...

Namibia’s Troubling Drift Toward Democratic Erosion

Dec 16, 2025 | Georgia State University Perimeter College

Namibia’s 2024 general election marks a significant moment of democratic backsliding, not through overt electoral manipulation, but through systemic administrative failures and executive efforts to...