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.

Arresting Opposition and Squashing Protests: Democratic Backsliding in Turkey Under Erdoğan

Turkey has been inching towards autocracy under Erdoğan and the AKP for the last 22 years.

2025 Romanian Elections: An Election Redo and a Barred Candidate

Only two weeks out from Presidential Elections, Romanian voters face a tough decision in deciding on the next leader of their country. The latest opinion polls show that nearly 40% of voters are still undecided on who to vote for. After all, most voters already cast...

Why Protecting American Democracy Means Coming Together In Protest

In the lead up to the 2020 presidential election, the Democratic Erosion Consortium's very own professors Robert Blair and Steven Rosenzweig wrote an article in The Boston Globe urging readers to “Get ready to protest like democracy depends on it.” The article was in...

The Power Vacuum in Regime Transition

Dec 24, 2022 | Skidmore College

The first anniversary of Sudan’s latest military coup has been marked by protests in the capital city of Khartoum, as well as Port Sudan and South Kordofan. On October 26th,...

Rishi Sunak and the Post-Post-Racial Politics of Identity

Dec 22, 2022 | Skidmore College

Can Britain's trailblazing new prime minister be more than a wolf in sleek clothing? On October 24th, following the historically short-lived reign of Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak...

Felon Disenfranchisement and the Right to Vote

Apr 12, 2020 | Georgia State University

In 2018, 1.4 million people were granted the ability to vote. Florida passed legislation to restore voting rights, and people all over the United States deemed this to be a step towards a stronger...

Can holding politicians and lawmakers accountable help in the fight against Human Trafficking?

Apr 12, 2020 | Suffolk University

With slavery being abolished in 1865, one would think that there are no slaves in the United States in the 21st Century. However, this is a misconception held by many. Human trafficking is a modern...

The Downfalls of Gate-keeping: What Bernie Sanders Dropping out of the election says about the Pitfalls of American Democracy

Apr 12, 2020 | Boston University

Trump’s tumultuous election in 2016 left half of the country shell shocked. However, the election was not as abnormal as it was originally depicted as but rather the result of years of two party...

The Politicization of The US Judicial System Empowers Authoritarianism

Apr 12, 2020 | Georgia State University

When the Founding Fathers created the U.S. government, they wanted to remove the chance of a tyrannical king ever taking hold of the government. An important stopgap from this...

Paranoid Politics in the US Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

Apr 11, 2020 | Boston University

With the global pandemic of COVID-19 virtually shutting down the entire country and disrupting our way of life, the United States, and in particular President Donald Trump, have evoked the paranoid...

The UK’s Coronavirus Failure

Apr 11, 2020 | Boston University

The coronavirus (COVID-19) has thrown the entire world for a loop, no country has been unaffected by its strength and ability to spread. The virus has shown no mercy in who it affects- the wealthy...

As the Coronavirus Spreads—So Does Democratic Erosion

Apr 11, 2020 | American University

Amidst the onset of an economic recession in 2008, the Wall Street Journal quoted former Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emmanual with his now-infamous phrase, “You never want a serious crisis to go to...

Gnashing of Teeth: Abandonment and Insecurity in American Prisons

Apr 10, 2020 | American University

Theorists use a range of scales to identify the turning points of democratization and de-democratization. Some prefer to focus on political rights, as in the difference between citizens in a...

Echoes of 1933: Viktor Orban takes advantage of the Coronavirus crisis to declare absolute power in Hungary

Apr 9, 2020 | Boston University

The handling of the current COVID-19 global pandemic has had varying effects on nations across the globe, but in Hungary, it could spell the end of democracy. The current ruling party in Hungary is...