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.

Democratic Erosion in Chile (1963-1975)

Chile between the period of 1964 and 1975 represents a great example of how democracy can be eroded through both internal failure, but mainly through the planned efforts of global superpowers. This blog argues that democratic erosion and the eventual collapse in Chile...

Two Presidents Walk into a Room: Daniel Noboa and Donald Trump’s Relationship

Exploring President Noboa and Donald Trump’s relationship through a framework of democratic erosion via militarization in Ecuador.

The 2026 Midterms as an Institutional Test

Georgia’s Stolen Election: A Setback for Democracy and European Integration

Nov 5, 2024 | Ohio State University

On October 26th, Georgia held elections that would determine the fate of democracy in their country. Unfortunately, democracy lost. The winning party ran its campaign partly...

The Junta, Democratic Erosion, and Anti-LGBTQ Legislation in Mali

Nov 5, 2024 | Ohio State University

In November of 2024, following two years of uncontested rule, the provisional government in Mali moved to enshrine anti-LGBTQ legislation into the nation's penal...

Interference at the Ballot Box: Why Voter Suppression Isn’t Just a Swing State Problem

Oct 23, 2020 | University of Chicago

News stories on voter suppression have been a common sight during this election cycle. In early October, Texas governor Greg Abbott (R) ordered that each county will have only one ballot drop box...

Tipping the Scales: The Judicial System as an Inadequate Safeguard Against Democratic Erosion

Oct 23, 2020 | University of Chicago

All eyes are on Amy Coney Barrett and Congress this week as the Senate prepares to confirm a Supreme Court justice just days before the election. This would be the third Trump SCOTUS nominee to...

“Court-Packing” and Saving American Democracy

Oct 23, 2020 | University of Chicago

On December 21, 2018, news organizations ran abuzz with a bomb report — Ruth Bader Ginsburg had been re-diagnosed with cancer. The BBC published this headline: Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Liberal America...

Threats to the Judiciary in the United States: Looking Beyond the Executive

Oct 23, 2020 | University of Chicago

Despite not having grown up in the US, for virtually all my life I’ve heard about the robustness of American democracy, including –...

North Korea as a Populist Regime

Oct 23, 2020 | University of Chicago

The political structure of a country is often presented on a spectrum; it is the degree of democracy or autocracy rather than a dichotomous classification. [1] For sure, many scholars have argued...

The Paradox of Trump’s Middle Class Supporters

Oct 23, 2020 | University of Chicago

In his 1959 book “Some Social Requisites of Democracy,” American sociologist and democratic theorist Seymour Lipset advanced a model of what made certain democracies stable and others unstable. He...

Even Justice Under Law

Oct 23, 2020 | University of Chicago

After the passing of Justice Scalia in 2016, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that the Senate would not consider any nomination until a new president was elected. Democrats were...

Packing the Court and the Future of Voting Rights in the U.S.

Oct 22, 2020 | University of Chicago

On Monday, the Supreme Court split four to four in a decision on whether Pennsylvania absentee ballots received up to three days after election day could be counted, allowing...

COVID-19 and the Serbian Case

Oct 22, 2020 | University of Chicago

“One of the great ironies of how democracies die is that the very defense of democracy is often used as a pretext for its subversion.” This line from Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt’s book How...