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.

How Turkey’s Justice System Became a Tool for Political Control and how backsliding ways change

Coups are supposed to be considered as the fastest way to erode a democracy. Soldiers seize power and elections disappear. But sometimes the coup is only the beginning of the real threat. Turkey shows this. In July 2016, a coup attempt against President Erdoğan...
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Is Democracy Deteriorating? A One-Year Assessment of the Implications of U.S. Foreign Aid Cuts on Democracy Abroad

U.S. foreign aid and its advancement of international development was deeply intertwined with the promotion of democracy abroad, and the dissolution of this infrastructure has enabled authoritarian practices and—in many cases—contributed to democratic backsliding.

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The Double-Edged Sword: Comparing Judicial Review in the United States and Israel

  Both the United States and Israel have powerful judiciaries which have accorded themselves the authority to strike down government actions they deem unconstitutional. However, comparing their respective histories reveals a paradox for scholars of democratic...
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