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.

The Erosion of an Already Weak Democracy: The Rise and Fall of Jovenel Moïse

Jovenel Moïse's presidency marked a dangerous shift from Haiti's already shaky democracy to overt authoritarianism. Delayed elections, unchecked abuse of executive power, and violent suppression of resistance became the norm. By the time of his assassination in 2021,...

Undermining the Feedback Loop: How Trump’s Educational Policies Hinder Democratic Accountability

In a larger trend of censoring opinions which the Trump administration views as undesirable, the Trump administration’s actions towards schools and universities has a negative impact on democracy as a whole. Such a system depends on the free transmission of...

Democracy Six Feet Under: How Disinformation is Burying Philippine Democracy Alive

Philippine democracy is in great danger once again now that the two families who benefited the most from disinformation – the Marcoses and Dutertes, are in power and have turned against one another. As both camps sling disinformation against each other, the...

The Erosion of Democracy: Sending U.S. Citizens to El Salvador

Apr 17, 2025 | Boston University

The idea floated by former President Trump to deport “homegrown criminals”—U.S. citizens—to a maximum security prison in El Salvador is a troubling sign of democratic...

“Unleashed” – Boris Johnson’s Populist Reincarnation

Apr 17, 2025 | Tartu University

On October 10th, 2024 I ordered the freshly released Boris Johnson memoir, Unleashed (Croft,2024). None of my relatives or friends from the UK, nor any of my classmates,...

Sall’s Stealth Authoritarian: Senegal’s Election Delay

Apr 10, 2024 | Ursinus College

Senegal has been a democracy since 1960 when it first gained independence. It is one of the only countries in Africa to have never suffered a coup since their independence. Now, in the past month,...

Mythological history is undermining democracy: Considering a 2024 Trump Reelection

Mar 31, 2024 | American University

Trump winning reelection in 2024 poses an extreme threat to democracy because of the damage already done through his increasingly authoritarian discourse. Normalizing a lie through repetition...

The Houthis Campaign Against Corruption is a Threat to Yemen’s Survival

Mar 11, 2024 | American University

Houthis promote their own agenda at the expense of the Yemen Yemen has long suffered from the effects of European colonization as well as religious and cultural divides between its north and south....

Venezuela: Two leaders, one resource, no democracy

Mar 7, 2024 | William Jewell College

The story of Venezuela’s descent into autocracy is not one tale; it is two stories linked together by little more than a transfer of power and an overreliance upon the volatile oil industry to...

Democratic Erosion in Turkey Can Help Us Understand the Importance of Protecting Institutions in the Face of Extreme Polarization

Feb 28, 2024 | William Jewell College

For the first time since Democracy’s Third Wave in the late 20th century, the number of countries transitioning into democracies has been recently met with the same amount of countries backsliding,...

Democratic Erosion University Course Student Blog

The Erosion of an Already Weak Democracy: The Rise and Fall of Jovenel Moïse

Undermining the Feedback Loop: How Trump’s Educational Policies Hinder Democratic Accountability

Democracy Six Feet Under: How Disinformation is Burying Philippine Democracy Alive

The Erosion of Democracy: Sending U.S. Citizens to El Salvador

“Unleashed” – Boris Johnson’s Populist Reincarnation

Sall’s Stealth Authoritarian: Senegal’s Election Delay

Mythological history is undermining democracy: Considering a 2024 Trump Reelection

The Houthis Campaign Against Corruption is a Threat to Yemen’s Survival

Venezuela: Two leaders, one resource, no democracy

Democratic Erosion in Turkey Can Help Us Understand the Importance of Protecting Institutions in the Face of Extreme Polarization

The Subtle Threat: Unraveling the Power of Propaganda in Modern Democracies

Democratic Erosion in Bolivia

Why Iranian Elections Don’t Matter Anymore

Will Slovakia follow Hungary’s path?

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