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.

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...

Buying Injustice: The Hidden Harms of this Act.

Are we looking to create a thriving society, or are we allowing fear into the lives of immigrant families? As new immigration policies appear, the question become, how do we prevent the changes that involve separating families and dismantling the place that...

Bolivia’s Decline in Democracy: The Failure to Uphold Constitutional Integrity by Danielle Schmitz

Aug 7, 2024 | University of Denver

A modern political democracy is a system where rules are held accountable by citizens through their elected representatives, either through competition or cooperation....

Bolivia’s Decline in Democracy: The Failure to Uphold Constitutional Integrity

Aug 7, 2024 | University of Denver

A modern political democracy is a system where rules are held accountable by citizens through their elected representatives, either through competition or cooperation....

Is orange ever a possibility in Thai politics?

Dec 9, 2019 | University of the Philippines, Diliman

Thailand is the country that has had the most number of coups in modern history. This says a lot about how troubled Thai politics is and how deep polarization occurs in this relatively progressive...

The Destruction of Democracy In Honduras By Jackeline Sosa

Dec 8, 2019 | Georgia State University

Has Honduras failed to uphold the upmost value of Democracy, while submitting into the hands of Dictatorship? Honduran voters got an unexpected end result when two presidential competitors asserted...

Hong Kong Protests by Max Tewksbury

Dec 8, 2019 | Georgia State University

Throughout history, democracies have worked and fallen. Venezuela and North Korea are examples of this. Great Britain gained control of Hong Kong on January 25, 1841, and maintained Hong Kong until...

A Game of (Presidential) Thrones: The Burgeoning Alliances in Venezuela’s Ongoing Political Crisis

Dec 7, 2019 | University of the Philippines, Diliman

Much like the warring families in George R.R. Martin’s bestselling fiction series Game of Thrones, Juan Guaidó and Nicolás Maduro have allies from beyond their borders which, like in the ending...

What current events in China tell us about the future of civil disobedience?

Dec 6, 2019 | Salem State University

In the largest leak ever to come out of Beijing, 400 pages of classified government documents were leaked to Western media sources. These documents provide an unprecedented look into the Chinese...

Turkey’s invasion of Syria: A democratic crisis

Dec 5, 2019 | University of the Philippines, Diliman

Ras al-Ayn bombing on October 10, 2019. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. When United States President Donald Trump ordered the withdrawal of American troops in northern Syria in October, chaos and...

The Trump of the Tropics

Dec 4, 2019 | Salem State University

How Bolsonaro takes Trump's extremes to the extreme On the rise of a certain president, Brian Winter, editor in Chief of Americas Quarterly, remarks that, in a politically divisive election year, “…...

In the Philippines, the biggest threat to press freedom is Duterte

Dec 3, 2019 | University of the Philippines, Diliman

President Rodrigo Duterte. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Ten years ago, on November 23, 2009, 58 people—32 of them journalists—were brutally killed in the sleepy and impoverished town of...

Japan’s Democracy under Abe: National Security over Civil Liberties?

Dec 3, 2019 | University of the Philippines, Diliman

Freedom of assembly and association as well as speech, press, and all other forms of expression are guaranteed. No censorship shall be maintained nor shall the secrecy of any means of communication...