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.

Hollowing out the State: DOGE and the Administrative Erosion of American Democracy

On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order establishing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a body embedded within the existing U.S. Digital Service and led by tech billionaire Elon Musk. Framed publicly as a crusade against wasteful...

Look at What They Took From You: MAGA Polarization Through Social Media

With the accessibility of social media, how does the current administration use it to create polarization?

From Secularism to Islamic Authority: Democratic Backsliding in Bangladesh

The journalists and citizens of Bangladesh look to the Jamaat to abide by the July National Charter of 2025, which seeks to prevent autocratic rule from institutionalizing once more.

A New World Order? Digital Authoritarianism

Jan 5, 2023 | Sabanci University

Kate Crawford in her book Atlas of AI argues that AI “grew on the battlefield where it was used to detect enemies, strange objects and maintain strategic...

Fall of Democracy in Turkey

Jan 5, 2023 | Sabanci University

Recently, the global rise of democratic regimes that began in the 1970s with the Third Wave of Democratization has come to a halt. In its place, many countries have...

Is Europe’s Migrant Crisis a Potential Threat to Finnish Democracy? Abby Nutter @ The Ohio State University

Nov 2, 2018 | Ohio State University

Immigration is a hot button topic that has an resounding effect on the world. While it’s easy to focus on the immigration issues in the U.S. this article clearly demonstrates the ongoing contention...

The Korean Peninsula: Peaceful Unification of a Democracy and a Dictatorship? by Taylor Robinson @ Georgia State University

Nov 1, 2018 | Georgia State University

Sixty-five years after the beginning of the Korean War, leaders of South Korea and North Korea began meeting with the intention of declaring peace and mending their damaged relationship. In addition...

How Trump’s Incompetence is Protecting us From Democratic Erosion by Tomas Rodriguez @Georgia State University

Oct 29, 2018 | Georgia State University

There seems to be a paradox in American Anti-Trump rhetoric where on the one hand Trump is this power-hungry potential authoritarian who is going to target the rights of minorities and drag the...

Rigged: How Donald Trump Eroded Norms of Respect in the 2016 Election by Zach Hopkins @ Georgia State University

Oct 28, 2018 | Georgia State University

The classic refrain we hear with regard to our democratic process is “one person, one vote,” so when that principle is violated, we should be concerned. But is such a phenomenon so prevalent as to...

Democracy Dies in Darkness

Oct 27, 2018 | Georgia State University

Democracy dies when there are no checks and balances; to ensure the newly established United States democracy would be able to secede, the Founding Fathers constructed the Constitution of the United...

American Democracy: Whites Only by Alexander Lloyd @ Georgia State University

Oct 25, 2018 | Georgia State University

Despite the absurdity of the 2016 election, the success of Donald J. Trump was not a random fluke but rather the result of a series of events starting with the Compromise of 1877. As described in...

Is Too Much Democracy a Bad Thing? by Matthew Mottet @ Georgia State University

Oct 23, 2018 | Georgia State University

Is it necessarily true that “the cure for the ills of democracy is more democracy”? In 1972 the McGovern-Fraser Commission revolutionized America’s primary system under this quote. For centuries...

Donald Trump vs. the Enemy of the People by Kara Nelson @ Georgia State University

Oct 23, 2018 | Georgia State University

During the last turbulent presidential election cycle, a clear division grew between those who regard Donald Trump as a solution to the ineffectiveness of the government and those who regard him as...

“The Empire Strikes Back (Again)” by Casey Francois @ Georgia State University

Oct 21, 2018 | Georgia State University

If you told me five years ago that we would be anywhere other than in the safe embrace of a Hillary Clinton presidency, I would ask who your dealer was and how much. Alas, here we are in the throes...