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.

At What Point Does Protecting Democracy Become Undemocratic?

The classical understanding of democracy rests on the abstract concept of the “common good” and the idea that people elect representatives to carry out their collective will, a conception Schumpeter famously critiqued. While scholars tend to differ in the principles...

Social Media is Bad for American Democracy

Social media hurts American Democracy. As Waldner and Lust describe, democracy relies on two forms of accountability to function. One is vertical accountability, meaning that citizens can hold officials accountable through elections, which pressures representatives to...

States of Exception: The Successful Rejection of Executive Overreach in Chile

After storming to the presidency in the 2025 presidential elections,[1] Chilean President José Antonio Kast has wasted no time attempting to enact his campaign agenda. In August, the President presented the Chilean Congress with a reform to address organized crime and...

Voting Rights vs. Indigenous Self-Determination in New Caledonia

Oct 23, 2026 | Brown University

In 2024, President Macron proposed an expansion of voting rights in the French sui generis collectivity of New Caledonia, a cluster of islands in the southwest Pacific...

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

Oct 23, 2026 | George Mason University

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...

Democracy Endures: Malawi’s 1993 Transition into Democracy and Maintaining the Legacy

Oct 19, 2026 | George Mason University

Up until 1993, Malawi had been under dictatorship for twenty-nine years. However, in an unprecedented referendum, 63.5 percent of voters favored a multiparty system, which completely undermined the...

Political Power That Stays in the Family: Democratic Erosion in the Philippines

Oct 19, 2026 | George Mason University

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. casts his ballot during the 2025 Philippine midterm elections. Photo: Presidential Communications Office / Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain). In 2022, Ferdinand...

Tunisia Didn’t Reject Democracy

Oct 17, 2026 | George Mason University

In December 2010, a fruit vendor in Tunisia set himself on fire. Weeks later, the dictator fled. The Arab Spring began. Fifteen years on, Tunisians are back on the streets. This time, they are...

When Democracy Uses Its Own Institutions: How Venezuela Eroded from Within

Oct 17, 2026 | George Mason University

When Democracy Uses Its Own Institutions: How Venezuela Eroded from Within Venezuela’s democratic erosion unfolded in stages: distrust of established parties opened the door to Hugo Chávez; later...

Bolivia’s Double-Edged Transformation: How Resource Nationalism Strengthened – and Strained – Democracy

Oct 17, 2026 | George Mason University

In 2016, Bolivians were asked a simple question: should President Evo Morales be allowed to run for another term? They answered no. Yet, one year later, Bolivia’s Constitutional Tribunal removed the...

Thaksin Shinawatra: Rise, Ruin, and Political Rebirth

Oct 17, 2026 | George Mason University

First the father, then the brother-in-law and sister—and now the youngest daughter. The fourth prime minister from the Shinawatra family has been dismissed by the constitutional court. In August...

Democracy Explained by Citizen Power, Not Economic Development Alone: The Case of Malawi

Oct 17, 2026 | George Mason University

Many countries with high levels of democracy are also wealthy. This suggests that economic development and democracy are closely related. However, economic growth does not automatically lead to...

How Indonesia’s Democracy Getting Threated in Silence

Oct 17, 2026 | George Mason University

After the collapse of President Suharto’s autocratic New Order regime in 1998, Indonesia was widely celebrated as Southeast Asia’s most resilient constitutional democracy. The successful transition...

How Does Democratic Erosion of Pakistan Make Security Concerns

Oct 17, 2026 | George Mason University

Introduction The suicide bombing in August 2nd, 2026 (in Kabal, a town in Swat Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, 14 people died and more than two dozen people were injured) is not...