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.

From Democratic Revolutionaries to Genocidaire Apologists: How the UAE Corrupted Sudanese Civil Society Leaders

Democratic leaders in Sudan have promoted pro-Rapid Support Forces and pro-Emirati talking points while these groups kill their countrymen en masse.

Donald Trump the Nazi Reincarnate?: Godwin’s Law and How This Phenomenon is Counterproductive to Understanding Democratic Erosion

What do we hope to accomplish when comparing President Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler, a tyrannical perpetrator of genocide?

The Russia-Ukraine War Bodes Poorly for Democracy, But Not in the Way You Think

The Russia-Ukraine War is a serious threat to global democracy through the growing wave of isolationism in the United States, an entity that has typically been at the forefront of fighting authoritarianism across the world.

The Dangers of Disenfranchising College Students in New Hampshire

May 27, 2022 | Dartmouth College

On March 8th, 2021, the New Hampshire state legislature tried to make me ineligible to run for office in my college town. That day, there was a hearing on HB362, a bill that...

Marcos, Misinformation, and Myopia: A Cautionary Tale

May 25, 2022 | University of California, San Diego

Less than a mere two generations after Ferdinand Marcos’ dictatorship, populist myopia has upended the Philippines election cycle—a stark warning to the rest of the world of...

Authoritarian practices of Donald Trump and the Republican Party. By Alexander Henshaw-Greene at Boston University.

Sep 27, 2017 | Boston University

Stealth Authoritarianism, as expressed by Ozan Varol, refers to regime practices that make a country less democratic without outright violating laws or repressing opposition. Varol writes that...

Is the U.S. in the throngs of totalitarianism? According to history (and Arendt), not yet. By Amalia Perez at Brown University.

Sep 26, 2017 | Brown University

More than half a century after being written, Hannah Arendt's hypotheses explaining the roots and contours of totalitarianism remain, unequivocally, a preeminent theoretical framework. The Origins...