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.

Hungary’s 2024 Protests and Elections: Populism VS Oligarchy

Intro In the last two years, Hungary has seen an influx of worker-led protests, even as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán maintained tight control over politics and the media. From 2023 to 2024, teachers and union members took to the streets of Hungary to oppose...

Corruption vs. The Fight for Democratic Resilience: The Threat of Ukraine’s Corruption Scandal to EU Membership and Democratic Integrity

Exploring the direct effects of Ukraine’s energy corruption scandal on the stability of their democracy.

Shameless Politics: How Scandal Lost Its Power in America

As scandal after scandal fails to draw consequences, a new political logic has taken hold—one where shamelessness isn’t a liability but a governing strategy.

This Musk Be a Joke

Dec 4, 2022 | SUNY-Binghamton

“Elon Musk he’s such a f***ing moron” (Conover, 2022) said Adam Conover in relation to Elon Musk on the Trillionaire Pod, a podcast. Elon Musk who recently bought Twitter in...

How Conspiracy Theories Helped Putin Secure Power

Dec 4, 2022 | SUNY-Binghamton

Since Vladimir Putin has had his hand in Russian politics, he has peddled in conspiratorial thinking to help himself gain support and power within his country and the world....

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...

Green Old Deal

Mar 31, 2019 | Rollins College

A country where there is no pollution, and everyone has a job sounds like a perfect place to live. This utopian vision of a state is the end game for the Green New Deal that is presented by the...

Ignoring Constitutional Obligations by Sydney Willis

Mar 31, 2019 | Rollins College

How hyper polarization has led to politicians in the United States ignoring their constitutional obligations Ever since...

Donald Trump vs The Media: A Threat to Our American Democracy? By Samuel Reeder

Mar 31, 2019 | American University

President Donald Trump has been consistently undermining and discrediting the news media in the United States since the start of his campaign back in 2016. The president, who has famously...