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...

Unraveling Russia’s Influence on Brazil’s Democracy: The Nova Resistência

Nov 24, 2023 | Northeastern University

In the landscape of global information manipulation, the New Resistance emerges as a significant player in the erosion of democracy. The New Resistance is a...

Do Competing Foreign Interests Dissuade Democratic Progress?

Nov 24, 2023 | Northeastern University

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the fall of Yugoslavia, many nations abandoned their communist alliances and ideologies, and flocked to Western alliances...

The Women’s March: Protest, Participation, and Polarization by Paige Cook

Mar 20, 2019 | Saint Louis University

I found myself standing – marching – down Market Street in St. Louis on a cold January day for the third year in a row. Although the crowds seemed smaller than years past, it was still filled with...

Mr. Bolsonaro Comes to Washington

Mar 19, 2019 | American University

by Sarah Ampolsk “It’s an honor to be here after decades of anti-American presidents,” Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro told U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office today. Bolsonaro, often...

The Lawyers Who Did Not Break

Mar 19, 2019 | Rollins College

The U.S. legal system is withstanding the Trump onslaught. By David Brooks The New York Times February 21, 2019 A crucial question of the Trump years has always been: Will our institutions hold?...

How the Left Embraced Elitism

Mar 19, 2019 | Rollins College

The progressives’ Green New Deal centralizes power. by David Brooks New York Times February 11, 2019 Over the past generation, global capitalism has produced the greatest reduction in human poverty...

Gatekeeping doesn’t work, at least not in Austria by Alec Wood

Mar 19, 2019 | American University

On 26 January 2017 Alexander Van der Bellen, former party spokesman and chairman of the Greens, became the 9th president of the Federal Republic of Austria. For many, this was a sign that the...

United States’ Democracy and its Ambivalent Future by Daniel Caissie

Mar 12, 2019 | Suffolk University

Photo retrieved from: https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/9/5/16227700/hyperpartisanship-identity-american-democracy-problems-solutions-doom-loop Democracy was born in ancient Greece and its...

Stochastic Terrorism in Poland

Mar 12, 2019 | American University

By Conor Gleeson Stochastic terrorism is a term that rose to prominence in 2018 to describe the use of mass, public communication, against a particular individual or group, which incites or inspires...

Lebanon’s Growing Economic Crisis & The Role of Democratic Backsliding

Mar 11, 2019 | Suffolk University

Can quantitative data be the best indicator of a destabilizing democracy? Lebanon’s growing economic crisis may be the icing on the cake in terms of diagnosing the country’s past and present...

Can the opposition parties in Namibia overcome the political dominance of the SWAPO party? by Katrina Ramkissoon

Mar 11, 2019 | Suffolk University

Can a country who has only had democracy for less than three decades already begin facing democratic backsliding? Unfortunately, yes. This is the case for the African country Namibia which just...