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

This blog examines how elections in Myanmar, stripped of genuine competition, political freedoms, and popular consent, have failed to protect democracy and instead become instruments of authoritarian rule.

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

Georgia’s 2024 foreign agents law uses the language of transparency to legally constrain civil society, tilt electoral competition towards the incumbent Georgian Dream Party, and accelerate democratic backsliding despite domestic and international opposition.

The Boiling Point of Election Violence: Democratic Erosion in Tanzania

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 Samia Suluhu Hassan.

The Fragility of Federal Agencies: Why the National Institutes of Health Is at Risk

Oct 31, 2025 | University of Georgia

“Make America Healthy Again,” a take on the 2020 and 2024 campaign slogan of President Donald Trump, has recently released a strategy titled “Make Our Children Healthy...

Replacing Ballots with Bullets: How Shadow Operations are Crippling Democracy in Africa

Oct 31, 2025 | University of Georgia

Private military companies (PMCs) have long blurred the line between state power and profit, but few have done so as effectively—or destructively—as the Wagner Group....

First Amendment, First to Go: Trump’s Threats on a Free Press

Feb 13, 2025 | Boston University

President Trump has spent the first weeks of his administration enacting firm executive orders and appointing allies to key government positions. His swift actions have not gone unnoticed, given...

How to Blur the Lines: Euphemism and Erosion

Feb 13, 2025 | Boston University

Euphemism as defined by Merriam Webster “the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant” is one of is not the most important too...

South Korean Martial Law in 2024: How Was Democracy Threatened?

Feb 13, 2025 | Boston University

On December 3, 2024, South Korean President Yoon Seok Yeol declared martial law, causing widespread panic throughout the nation. His declaration was made in order to protect the country from...

Threats to Democracy: Trump’s Appointment of Devin Nunes to Lead Intelligence Advisory Board

Feb 13, 2025 | Boston University

Although there have been numerous more significant, overarching levels of democratic erosion displayed by the Trump administration, examining the seemingly minor actions contributing to this...

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 their own party members to...

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 authoritarian candidates, to...

Dissolution of Democratic Norms in Trump’s America

Feb 13, 2025 | Boston University

In January, Congressman Andy Ogles, a Republican Representative for Tennessee, introduced a resolution to revise the 22nd Amendment, allowing President Trump and any future president to serve a new...

Authoritarian Reinforcement: Another 5 Years in Belarus

Feb 12, 2025 | Boston University

On January 26th, the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Belarus announced that President Alexander Lukashenko had secured a seventh term in office, extending his presidency that began over 30...

The Rise of Right-Wing Populism in Former Satellite States

Feb 12, 2025 | Boston University

Former Soviet satellite states that were once poster children for democratization following the decline of European communism have been making drastic pivots towards autocracy in recent years. In...