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 in America in Historic Decline: What’s Next For the USA?

With the release of the most recent V-Dem report on world democracy, the US has reached a 60-year low dropping all the way back to levels before the civil rights era. This has been labeled as the single most dramatic decline of democracy in the world. The rate at...

Looking at Trump’s and Obama’s State of the Unions Through the Lens of Mutual Toleration

How do Trump and Obama compare to one another when we analyze their state of the union speeches based on the theory of mutual toleration?

Is Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Actually Keeping Us Safe?

Voter fraud in the United States is almost nonexistent, with very little evidence suggesting that noncitizens are the ones committing it, if it does happen. Audits and research have repeatedly found only tiny numbers of such cases, often due to clerical errors rather...

Georgia’s Gerrymandering, Legal Institutions, and Democratic Backsliding

Oct 29, 2023 | Arizona State University

A federal judge ruled that Georgia’s congressional and state legislative districts must be redrawn prior to the 2024 election. The report concluded that the Republican-drawn...

Don’t Cry Wolf About Threats To Democracy

Oct 29, 2023 | Arizona State University

In the past few years, we’ve witnessed many serious threats to American democracy. Some that loom large include: the January 6 Capitol riot, President Trump’s “perfect...

Pete Buttigieg: Court Reform or Court-Packing? by Charlotte Bairey

May 7, 2019 | University of Chicago

2020 presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg had raised the idea court reform as a part of his platform. He has demonstrated interest in increasing the number of seats, or an appellate rotation plan....

Pete Buttigieg: the anti-backsliding candidate? by Emily Maercklein

May 7, 2019 | University of Chicago

Day One in the Buttigieg Administration Compared to the policy-dense campaigns run by Bernie Sanders and other Democratic hopefuls, Pete Buttigieg’s candidacy has, thus far, been surprisingly free...

Analyzing the Spanish Election: How Spain’s Far-Right Party Goes Beyond the Typical Confines of Populism by Aliza Oppenheim

May 7, 2019 | University of Chicago

The winner of Spain’s recent general election claims that his party “sent a message to the world that it’s possible to win against regression and authoritarianism.” Spain’s election was held on...

Is Turkey a democracy? By Guilherme Soares

May 7, 2019 | University of Chicago

In March 2019, Turkey held mayoral elections in Istanbul. Istanbul has long been a source of power and prestige for President Erdoğan and his party and alliance. The stakes in the local Istanbul...

Threats to a Healthy Democracy: Fake News, Populism, & the Anti-Vaccine Movement by Alexa Keith

May 7, 2019 | University of Chicago

On May 6, 2019, a drone dropped flyers outside of an Ariana Grande concert in Sacramento. The flyers read, “the press is the enemy”, “mob organized crime”, “police state/fascism”, and featured...

American Political Polarization and the Discontent with Democracy By Ian Henson

May 7, 2019 | University of Chicago

Polarization is certainly a commonly cited cause of why the current governmental system and Congress seem to be unable to get anything substantial done. There are countless news stories about the...

Citizens in the Face of Polarizing Politics. Can we be the Gatekeepers? by Jorge Garrigo

May 7, 2019 | University of Chicago

On April 24th, a longtime Iowa republican state representative declared that he was leaving the Republican party. In his announcement Representative Andy McKean stated that the republican party had...

Is a Second Brexit Referendum Democratic? by Emily Young

May 7, 2019 | University of Chicago

On the 23rd of June, 2016 the United Kingdom voted in a national referendum with a vote of 51.9% to 48.1% to leave the European Union. [1] This was an unprecedented vote that shocked...

Do Big Techs Pose an Existential Threat to U.S. Democracy? By Josie Lui

May 7, 2019 | University of Chicago

The internal company briefing produced by Google, leaked to Breitbart in 2018, states that big techs such as Google and Facebook have been moving away from the “American tradition” of free...