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.

Democracy Fails, Market Follows

Democratic backsliding is often seen as a political problem, a phenomenon that manifests itself in elections, courts, or constitutions. But what if its effects reach well beyond the realm of politics to the global economy? The piece “Why Democratic Backsliding Should...

Democratic Erosion in Turkey: Elections, Institutions, and Media Under Erdoğan

Turkey, once hailed as a model of democracy for its neighbors, has experienced a steady democratic decline over more than two decades of rule by President Erdoğan and the AKP (Justice and Development Party). One of the most notable examples of Turkey’s democratic...

Academic Freedom Under Pressure: What Attacks on U.S. Universities Reveal About Democratic Erosion

Recent attacks on academics in the United States point to a broader and more concerning trend, which is the erosion of democratic norms through political polarization and institutional vulnerability. While the U.S. continues to maintain formal protections for free...

A 2024 Rematch: Will it be the Authoritarian or the Genocide-Enabler?

May 10, 2024 | American University

With the grim results of Super Tuesday, we face the catastrophic choice between Trump, espousing authoritarian ideology, and Biden, a now genocide-enabler. “Democracies...

Democracy in Decay:

May 8, 2024 | American University

Analyzing Democratic Backsliding in Narendra Modi’s India India is one of the world's most diverse and populated nations, with a revolutionary past and a promising future of...

Coronavirus’ Chinese Paradox: Crushing or Renewing Hopes for Democratization?

Oct 13, 2020 | Brown University

In the past twenty years, the world has been asking itself “will China democratize”? However, the Chinese Communist Party under President Xi has been doing so well that the debate had died down…...

A Shadow Pandemic: Domestic Violence Exacerbated by COVID-19

Oct 12, 2020 | Brown University

While COVID-19 has transformed life internationally, a “shadow pandemic” of domestic violence is occurring simultaneously (Godoy). Social isolation, as a result of self-quarantine and government...

The Culprit in Chile: The Living Legacy of U.S. Imperialism

Oct 12, 2020 | Brown University

On October 2, a police officer pushed a teenage protestor off a bridge in Santiago, Chile. This is only the most recent act of brutality in the now yearlong pro-democracy protests in Chile. Citizens...

Reshuffling “Bad Apples”: Mexico’s Issue With Security

Oct 12, 2020 | Brown University

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) and his promises of maintaining security have been minimal at best as Mexico reached an all-time high of homicides in 2019 and has experienced recent increased...

Beyond Electoral Fraud: Rooting Bolivia’s Coup in a History of Clientelism and Repression

Oct 12, 2020 | Brown University

The Bolivian coup d’etat against Evo Morales was not, and should not be examined solely as, the result of a fraudulent election. To suggest this erases the deep entrenchment of Bolivia’s neo-fascist...

The Necessity for Responsible Reporting on Crime in Mexico

Oct 12, 2020 | Brown University

You may not realize it, but the news media plays an enormous role in shaping how the public views and responds to crime. As Vincent Sacco states in his paper, “Media Constructions of Crime”, the way...

Migrant Caravans, U.S. Intervention, and the Case of Honduras

Oct 12, 2020 | Brown University

AFP/Getty, October 2018 You have likely come across the striking wide-shot, panoramic depictions of a blurred mass of bodies on the move. Blocking entire roads as far as the eye can see and...

Color, Corruption, and COVID-19: South Africa’s Democratic Balancing Act

Oct 12, 2020 | Brown University

A nation’s economy contracts by 51% in three months. Blatant corruption severely undermines the legitimacy of a country’s most prominent political party. Racial unrest and an increasingly fraught...

An Alternative to Militarization: Building Public Infrastructure to Fight Crime

Oct 12, 2020 | Brown University

The intuitive approach to deterring criminal behavior is to punish it. But what if legal behavior were instead incentivized such that criminal activity lost some of its relative appeal? Years of...