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...

The New Future of Warfare? How Social Media is Inflating Tensions Between the U.S. and Iran.

Social media is moving to the forefront of the ongoing tensions between the U.S. and Iran, with political elites from both sides of the conflict using social media as a weapon to fabricate narratives and generate AI videos to publicly denounce the actions of one...

Populism, Popularity, and Prabowo’s Rise to Power

Jul 9, 2024 | University of the Philippines, Diliman

Political campaigns are just like the movies. Politicians comprise a cast of characters who play their respective roles within a well-conceived made-up narrative complete...

The Miss Universe Win: A Call to Action for International Support for the Nicaraguan People

Jun 26, 2024 | University of the Philippines, Diliman

Running for over 70 years, the Miss Universe has always been one of the most iconic and renowned international beauty pageant. It is easily the most widely viewed pageant in...

Severity of Curtailing Press Freedom in the Philippines: Is history repeating itself?

Dec 2, 2019 | University of the Philippines, Diliman

Article 3, Section 4 of the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines states that “No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of the speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right...

Duterte’s Metamorphosis: From an Illiberal Democrat to an Authoritarian?

Dec 2, 2019 | University of the Philippines, Diliman

Metamorphosis, a Greek word that means transformation in structure or substance by supernatural means. Like butterflies, “democratic” leaders have life stages too. Some leaders start as an illiberal...

Rebirth of Democracy or a More Chaotic Political Crisis in Bolivia?

Dec 2, 2019 | University of the Philippines, Diliman

The tension is still high and Morales’ supporters were claiming that Evo Morales was a victim of a coup drawn by the military and political enemies (right-wing politicians). The possibility of an...

The Courts & Democratic Erosion

Dec 2, 2019 | Salem State University

The political battlegrounds for the America’s courts spilt into national news coverage once more this past weekend when 86-year-old Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was briefly...

Xi Jinping’s Concentration Camps

Dec 2, 2019 | Salem State University

A humanitarian crisis is ongoing in the Chinese province of Xinjiang under President Xi Jinping. According to several reports, upwards of a million ethnic Muslims, the Uighurs, are detained in...

You Can’t Impeach a Messiah

Dec 2, 2019 | Salem State University

You Can’t Impeach a Messiah Officials from the Trump administration and the President himself have made fairly outlandish claims since Trump’s...

Are we looking at a future populist in the Philippines?

Dec 2, 2019 | University of the Philippines, Diliman

What was once crowded with huge amount of trash and foul-smelling sidewalks, the Divisoria district in the Philippines’ capital city, Manila, was cleared of street vendors just two days after Mayor...

Is There Judicial Independence in Duterte’s Philippines?

Dec 2, 2019 | University of the Philippines, Diliman

A review of salient cases that have been considered by the Supreme Court suggests a judiciary largely unwilling to rule against the president. Three years in his term, President Rodrigo Duterte has...

Beyond the Yellow and Red Politics of the Philippines

Nov 27, 2019 | University of the Philippines, Diliman

In the Philippine Politics, you either belong to a “Dilaw” [Yellow] camp or to a DDS [Diehard Duterte Supporter] camp. “Dilaw” is the disparaging term for the critics of the country’s leading...