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.

A Green Card Once Meant Protection: Now it is Fear

A Green Card Once Meant Protection: Now it is Fear By Fotios E. Meimeteas Imagine you are a single mother in the United States, raising four children who depend on you. You have established a new life, built a home, paid taxes, and lived in the United States for...

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...

The Unraveling of Bulgarian Democracy

Oct 30, 2024 | Ohio State University

Bulgaria saw massive protests in 2020 against Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and his administration. These demonstrated the democratic backsliding that had been occurring...

Honduras: How Populism Lead to the Removal of the Extradition Treaty

Oct 30, 2024 | Ohio State University

Honduras has struggled with gang violence and, therefore, drug trafficking since the fall of Dictator-Military Leader Rafael López Gutiérrez from 1924. To this day, Honduras...

The Prespa Agreement: A New Hope for Macedonian Democracy?

May 9, 2020 | Koç University

In June 2018, an important agreement was reached between Macedonia and Greece, solving the legal name dispute between the two neighbors. As a consequence of the agreement, Macedonia acknowledged...

Venezuela’s Democratic Decline

May 7, 2020 | American University

Venezuela was once a wealthy country known for its strong constitutional democracy and peaceful shifts of power but collapsed under Higo Chavez’s misguides regime. Under Venezuela’s current...

Democratic Dreams in Georgia

May 7, 2020 | American University

Under any circumstance a flawed election can be an uncharacteristic setback in democracy. The amount of democratic electoral systems around the world attempt to maintain equity between mathematical...

Stop Waiting on the Feeling, There Isn’t One: Democratic Backsliding in the United States by Jessamyn Lockett

May 6, 2020 | Georgia State University Perimeter College

Forget the clickbait: President Donald J. Trump and the Republican party are unraveling the democratic process in the United States, just because you cannot “feel” it,...

Brian Kemp: The Mastermind Behind Voter Suppression by Adriana Moreno

May 6, 2020 | Georgia State University, Georgia State University Perimeter College

When you think about Democratic Erosion, you usually think about countries, but the threat has always been at home and polarizing at the state level. We have reached a new troubling time in our...

For Hungary, the Coronavirus is a Chance to Secure Ultimate Power by Cristen Canavino

May 6, 2020 | Georgia State University Perimeter College

For most people, it is virtually impossible to view the Coronavirus pandemic as anything but catastrophic, but for Hungary’s Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, the Coronavirus provides him with a unique...

Virtual Town Hall Meeting on the Battle against COVID – 19

May 5, 2020 | Suffolk University

COVID – 19 has been dominating the news cycle as of late on the national scale, but what efforts are being made locally to combat this virus? Virtual town halls have been the way to go as of late...

COVID-19 through the Eyes of an Employee of a Retirement Community: What We Are Doing

May 5, 2020 | Suffolk University

In a small city of rural New Hampshire, a small retirement community is home to over a hundred senior citizens. As COVID-19 expands across the world, leaving no small town untouched, everyone is...

Is COVID-19 the Savior of Democracy?

May 4, 2020 | Suffolk University

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a future marked by economic deterioration, social unrest, and volatile public health issues, and the United States needs its citizens to become more civically...