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.

Food Security is Rooted Abroad

Global fertilizer supply chains connect geopolitical events abroad to food production at home in ways most consumers don’t see.

The Meaning of Silence : What the moment of silence for Melissa Hortman says about American democracy

On June 14, 2025, the lives of Melissa Hortman who was a House speaker in Minnesota and her husband Mark were taken in what authorities believe to be a politically motivated act of violence. The same day Senator John Hoffman and his wife were also shot and...

Buying Injustice: The Hidden Harms of this Act.

Are we looking to create a thriving society, or are we allowing fear into the lives of immigrant families? As new immigration policies appear, the question become, how do we prevent the changes that involve separating families and dismantling the place that...

Strange Bedfellows? Republican Endorsements of Kamala Harris and the Choices of Democratic Gatekeepers

Feb 13, 2025 | Boston University

In the United States’ hyper-polarized political environment, endorsements that cross party lines are relatively rare. Yet in 2024, several high-profile Republicans urged...

Our First Line of Defense Against an American Authoritarian Regime is Crumbling: Education

Feb 13, 2025 | Boston University

In an effort to explain what some often feel is the unexplainable, political scientists have been devising metrics to analyze those voters who cast their ballots for...

Sacrificing Truth at the Altar of Power

Nov 17, 2020 | University of Chicago

Even though the 2020 Presidential Election was called on November 14th, escaping election news seems impossible. The last week has seen Trump's legal team file a plethora of lawsuits over supposed...

Democratic Erosion in India: Modi Leads the Country Into a More Polarized Society

Nov 16, 2020 | University of Chicago

Narendra Modi’s time as Prime Minister of India has been watched closely by the world as escalations have heightened with Pakistan in recent years. Modi has enacted many policies and actions that...

Voter Suppression: How it Still Exists 100 Years After the Passing of the 19th Amendment

Nov 16, 2020 | Suffolk University

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/opinion/texas-voter-suppression.html Civic Engagement I joined the JFK library's conference about the 19th Amendment and voting rights today. This conference was...

Pork Barrel Spending: How an Anti-corruption Measure Heightens Polarization and Threatens American Democracy

Nov 16, 2020 | University of Chicago

While ostensibly a positive effort against corruption, the voluntary banning of pork-barrel spending has contributed to the erosion of American democracy by encouraging hyperpolarization on the...

Lessons Learned in Brussels: What Hungary’s Democratic Erosion Tells Us About the European Union’s Leverage

Nov 16, 2020 | University of Chicago

Incentives are everything. Since its founding in 1993, the European Union (EU) has understood this and become a master of soft power pressure and incentive-based democratic reforms. Indeed, as much...

A Cause To Celebrate?

Nov 15, 2020 | Suffolk University

This past week, The United States underwent one of the most tense elections in our history. The probability of violence with the victory of either candidate was strong. Cities all across the country...

Returned From Exile: Evo Morales Once Again Poses a Threat to Bolivian Democracy

Nov 15, 2020 | University of Chicago

(AP Photo/Juan Karita) After nearly a year in exile, former President Evo Morales returned to Bolivia on November 9th to a crowd of adoring fans at the Argentinian border. In spite of his...

Enabling Democratic Erosion: How Polish Government Polarized the Society

Nov 14, 2020 | University of Chicago

Scholars of political science who study the phenomenon of democratic erosion often analyze the relationship of it with polarization. While there is no academic consensus on which one causes which, a...

How Twitter Changes Stealth Authoritarian’s Approach to News Media

Nov 13, 2020 | University of Chicago

In the grand scheme of checks and balances on authoritarian tendencies, the media ideally plays an impartial role as a guardrail against democratic backsliding. 2016 posed a unique challenge to this...