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.

Democratic Backsliding: Be Observant

Setting the Stage for Autocracy Democratic backsliding is nothing if not the gradual death of democracy. Democracy is eroded through incremental steps taken by the dominant political party to consolidate power into their own hands. The specific means of doing this is...

Propaganda, The Iran War, and Democratic Erosion

The U.S. response to the Iran conflict demonstrates how propaganda and narrative manipulation transform foreign policy into a domestic political tool, contributing to democratic erosion by undermining informed citizenship, weakening accountability, and expanding...

Israel’s Nation-State Law and the Fight Over Belonging

Israel’s Nation-State Law and the Fight Over Belonging Every democracy is based on a single premise: equality. That is why Israel’s 2018 Nation-State Law matters. In July 2018, the Israeli Knesset passed Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People, also...

The SAVE America Act: Integrity or Erosion?

Apr 17, 2026 | Boston University

Debates about voting laws have a long history of being highly contested in American politics. While proposals claiming to secure democracy have risen, the question persists:...

Democracy Fails, Market Follows

Apr 17, 2026 | Boston University

Democratic backsliding is often seen as a political problem, a phenomenon that manifests itself in elections, courts, or constitutions. But what if its effects reach well...

Arresting Opposition and Squashing Protests: Democratic Backsliding in Turkey Under Erdoğan

Apr 19, 2025 | Boston University

On March 19, Ekrem Imamoğlu, mayor of Istanbul, was arrested on charges of corruption and terrorism. His arrest took place days before he was expected to be selected by the Republican People’s Party...

2025 Romanian Elections: An Election Redo and a Barred Candidate

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

Only two weeks out from Presidential Elections, Romanian voters face a tough decision in deciding on the next leader of their country. The latest opinion polls show that nearly 40% of voters are...

Analyzing Polarization and Democratic Politics: The SAVE Act

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

Last week, the House passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act with a large amount of Republican support and four democratic votes. The bill requires all voters to provide proof of U.S....

Turkey: The End of “Competitive Authoritarianism”?

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

On March 19, 2025, the top opposition candidate, Ekrem Imamoglu, was arrested four days prior to confirmation as the opposition party’s candidate for president. Turkey’s presidential elections are...

Why Protecting American Democracy Means Coming Together In Protest

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

In the lead up to the 2020 presidential election, the Democratic Erosion Consortium's very own professors Robert Blair and Steven Rosenzweig wrote an article in The Boston Globe urging...

Prabowo Dismantling Democracy, One Law at a Time

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

On March 20, 2025, Indonesia’s Parliament approved revisions to their Indonesian National Military (TNI) Law No. 34/2004, raising concerns for civilians across the country. President Prabowo...

Land of the Free, Home of the… Silent? Democratic Backsliding in Trump’s America

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

At one point in the not-so-distant past, the words “democracy” and “America” were seemingly synonymous. Since the 2016 election, the American political landscape has experienced dramatic democratic...

Populism as Democratic Medicine: Reiwa Shinsengumi and Japan’s Political Apathy

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

Revisiting Japan’s Democratic Stagnation Populism is often portrayed as a toxin to democracy—an anti-pluralist, anti-institutional movement that undermines liberal norms. Yet, in certain contexts,...

How to Erode a Democracy: Hungary’s Illiberal Turn Under Orbán

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán turned Hungary from a hopeful post-communist democracy into the first “illiberal democracy” since taking office in 2010. Originally rated “Free, Hungary is now only...