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.

Democracy Dying by Law : A Case study of Poland’s Under PiS Era

Still water runs deep. Have you ever heard of this phrase? It means that the surface may look calm, but there is some powerful force moving underneath. What if this was happening in real life? That force has a name: stealth authoritarianism. That force wears a mask...

The New Nepal: A Model or An Outlier?

Recent uprisings in Nepal, Bangladesh, and Madagascar (just to name a few) have highlighted younger generations’ demands for anticorruption and better political representation. Specifically, the 2025 uprising in Nepal illustrates GenZ’s potential for...

Challenging Erdoğan’s Autocracy: Resistance to Democratic Erosion in Türkiye

Resistance to the Erdoğan regime in Türkiye has maintained a presence in local and national government, found multigenerational support in academia, and been energized by young Turks looking for a more democratic future for their home.

Democratic Erosion in Poland’s Judicial Reform

Apr 19, 2026 | Suffolk University

Poland is actively making corrupt efforts to silence those who muster the courage to speak out. In late 2019, the Polish Sejm approved a new law, the muzzle law, that is...

Ignoring the Referee: Court Defiance and America’s Last Guardrail

Apr 19, 2026 | Suffolk University, Universities

Democracies don’t usually die in a single dramatic moment. They erode quietly and gradually, through a thousand small surrenders. But occasionally, a government does...

Peaceful Protesting: A Valiant Effort Against the Trump Administration

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

Photo by: AP News In the past weeks, protests have been happening all around the United States every single day. These protests are being organized for...

Protesting for Democracy: What April 5 Says About America’s Political Crisis

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

On April 5, 2025, thousands of protestors participated in the ‘Hands Off!’ rallies that took place across all 50 states. The peaceful protests were organized by over 150 labor unions, LGBTQ+...

The Implications and Motivations for Trump’s Tariffs on EU Trade

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

In early 2025, President Donald Trump announced the imposition of a 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminum imports from the European Union, citing concerns over trade imbalances and national...

Nayib Bukele and the Quiet Dismantling of Salvadoran Democracy

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

Nayib Bukele has become one of the most infamous populist leaders in Latin America, winning international praise for his aggressive anti-gang policies and his unapologetic, millennial persona. But...

Trump Targets Former CISA Director

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

On April 9, 2025, Donald Trump issued a presidential memorandum titled “Addressing Risks from Chris Krebs and Government Censorship.” The memo claimed that Chris Krebs “is a significant bad-faith...

The Death Files: The Trump Administration’s Dangerous and Anti-Democratic ‘Self-Deportation’ Strategy

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

A social security master-list previously known as the ‘Death Master List’ meant for invalidating the social security numbers of deceased individuals is being repurposed in the Trump Administrations...

Democratic Erosion: Trump’s threats on vulnerable students

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

The Trump Administration has caused an influx of high-profile arrests of international students across the United States by the Department of Homeland Security over the last few weeks, following the...

Militarizing The U.S. Boarder With Mexico: A Sign Of Democratic Erosion

Apr 17, 2025 | Boston University

On April 11, 2025, President Donald Trump granted the U.S. military permission to occupy federal lands along the border between the United States and Mexico. (Per The Guardian) The declared purpose...

The JFK Files: Make America Paranoid Again

Apr 17, 2025 | Boston University

Donald Trump recently released 80,000 CIA files on the JFK assassination and the following investigation. These files were released to some degree in 2017, as was mandated by the National Archives...