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.

A Green Card Once Meant Protection: Now it is Fear

A Green Card Once Meant Protection: Now it is Fear By Fotios E. Meimeteas Imagine you are a single mother in the United States, raising four children who depend on you. You have established a new life, built a home, paid taxes, and lived in the United States for...

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 Supreme Court’s Potential to Erode Democracy

Oct 15, 2023 | Boston University

The Supreme Court, an institution responsible for providing equal justice under the law, contradicts this role in our current democracy. As the two other branches of...

The Delegitimization of American Political Institutions

Oct 15, 2023 | Boston University

Until fairly recently, Americans tended to view their own constitutional democracy as their greatest source of joy as citizens. We saw ourselves as a shining beacon of...

Modi’s populist tactics are detrimental to democratic improvement in India by Kishan Patel- UCLA

Mar 15, 2018 | University of California, Los Angeles

Populist leaders have recently been on the rise and have been everywhere in certain events of political history. Populist leaders seek political hegemony with an anti elitist mentality that...

Maduro is No Chávez: Death of Demoracy in Venezuela by Adja Hudson @ University of California, Los Angeles

Mar 15, 2018 | University of California, Los Angeles

Since 2012, Venezuela’s economic condition has been on a downward spiral and the country is in the midst of a humanitarian crisis. The political climate has worsened as democracy is continually...

Hugo Chavez; Populism aiding Democratic Erosion by Marcella Pensamiento @UCLA

Mar 15, 2018 | University of California, Los Angeles

Many argue that Venezuela’s current state of democracy is directly linked to Hugo Chavez’s leftovers as a 15 year president. Specifically, Chavez’s changes of the political agents in power are...

How Hugo Chavez killed Democracy in Venezuela

Mar 15, 2018 | University of California, Los Angeles

Hugo Chavez was Venezuela’s most successful president and democracy’s worst nightmare. His socialist rhetoric and policies were the catalyst for a devastating democratic backslide in Venezuela....

Analyzing the Democratic Erosion in Turkey by Joshua Varela @ University of California, Los Angeles

Mar 15, 2018 | University of California, Los Angeles

On July 15, 2016, an event occurred in Turkey that rarely occurs in mature democracies. The Turkish armed forces initiated a coup d’état against Turkish governmental institutions, namely Turkish...

Bibi, Bribes, and Backslide: Erosion of Israeli Democracy under Netanyahu by Noga Tour @ UCLA

Mar 15, 2018 | University of California, Los Angeles

Pink champagne and fine cigars abound at Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Jerusalem home. What does this luxurious lifestyle have to do with the state of Israel’s democracy? Quite a bit,...

Democracy to Dictatorship: Venezuela on the Brink under Maduro by Donovan Williams @ University of California, Los Angeles.

Mar 15, 2018 | University of California, Los Angeles

Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s former President now deceased, left the nation in a good condition. The economy was thriving, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) doubled, unemployment and poverty rates...

Hungary Slips into the Shadows

Mar 15, 2018 | University of California, Los Angeles

In central Europe there have recently been some alarming events that perfectly portray symptoms of democratic erosion, caused by the mechanism of populism. Other than the gradual decline in the...

Instability and Death of Democracy in Venezuela by Julio Chavez @ University of California, Los Angeles

Mar 15, 2018 | University of California, Los Angeles

The death of Democracy in Venezuela has been slow but nonetheless there. Under President Maduro, democracy in Venezuela is close to nonexistent, and with it, the rights of the people. It is...