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...

From Populism to Restoration: Ecuador’s Political (R)evolution

Jan 2, 2024 | University of Pennsylvania

In recent years, Ecuador has witnessed a complex interplay between democracy and the rise of populism, a phenomenon that has captured the attention of political analysts and...

Reserve Building Area Law in the Autocratic Presidential System Türkiye

Dec 26, 2023 | Sabanci University

After the constitutional referendum in 2017 Turkey, the state started a new era of its democratic history. In 2017 Turkey held a referendum and according to that referendum...

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...