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.

Donald Trump the Nazi Reincarnate?: Godwin’s Law and How This Phenomenon is Counterproductive to Understanding Democratic Erosion

What do we hope to accomplish when comparing President Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler, a tyrannical perpetrator of genocide?

The Russia-Ukraine War Bodes Poorly for Democracy, But Not in the Way You Think

The Russia-Ukraine War is a serious threat to global democracy through the growing wave of isolationism in the United States, an entity that has typically been at the forefront of fighting authoritarianism across the world.

The Trump Administration’s Attack on USAID

The Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle USAID, increase concerns about democratic backsliding as it could result in a trend with the executive undermining institutional legitimacy.

Paraguay’s December Primary: Corruption, Assassinations, and Treaty Renegotiation

Oct 14, 2022 | Ohio State University

The history of democracy in Latin and South America has been tumultuous. In Paraguay, the ruling Colorado party is fraught with corruption and may lose its grip on power...

El Salvador is Objectively Becoming Safer, But at What Cost to Democracy?

Oct 14, 2022 | Ohio State University

El Salvador is a country that many Americans have heard of but very few know a lot about. The nation has experienced a long history of turmoil with several military...

Proposed Anti-LGBT Laws Spark Backlash in Tennessee by Andrew Phifer

Apr 2, 2019 | University of Memphis

With the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York City, what most activists see as the birth of the gay rights movement in the United States, mere months away, it looks as if Tennessee...

Canceled Flight; A Bad Sign for Togo’s Prospective Democracy by Caleb Logan

Apr 2, 2019 | Saint Louis University

Grounding Opponents On March 28, 2019, François Boko, a former interior minister of Togo who has been in exile in France since 2005, was prevented from boarding an Air France flight headed for...

Fighting Illegal Immigration or Fighting Diversity?

Apr 1, 2019 | Rollins College

The topic of illegal immigration and Donald Trump’s preposition of adding a wall to our southern border have been wildly discussed and argued on media outlets throughout the United States. Although...

Brexit is Britain’s Canary in the Coal Mine by Christian Santiago

Mar 31, 2019 | Rollins College

A response to "How a Strange Massachusetts Election Helps Explain Britain’s Brexit Chaos” by Max Fisher (NYT) The recent events surrounding Britain’s controversial Brexit referendums has highlighted...

Election Commission Chaos: Are Hard-to-Access Public Meetings a Sign of Democratic Erosion? by Allison Todd

Mar 31, 2019 | University of Memphis

When I was a child, I would ever-so-often hear my mother ask my grandmother what had happened in the most recent election commission meeting; my grandmother, active in the local political sphere as...

Assessing Public Opinion by Rajdeep Singh

Mar 31, 2019 | Rollins College

When looking at daily news, a few topics have been constantly appearing in the last two years. The most frequent of them all: the Brexit Referendum and its fallout in the British parliament. It...

The Divide Between Right-Wing Populists and the Left-Wing Elite by Jacob Buckelew

Mar 31, 2019 | Rollins College

It is the great paradox within the party of the welfare state that economic populism results in a greater level of elitism in Washington. As David Brooks suggests, centralization-as opposed to...

Rhetoric and Reactionism in the Brexit Debacle – by Matt Willis @ Rollins College

Mar 31, 2019 | Rollins College

In his article, Max Fisher of the New York Times describes an intriguing conundrum in the democratic process, and two parallel cases that expose it. At the forefront is a recall election in the town...

Perils of the Green New Deal

Mar 31, 2019 | Rollins College

The Green New Deal, proposed earlier this year, is a non-binding resolution that primarily plans to battle the detrimental effects of climate change, but also advocates for methods to lower economic...