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.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2026/03/13/bitcoin-in-the-crossfire-what-oil-shocks-really-do-to-crypto/

Flash forward to 2026, and that humble narrative has completely eroded away. Advertisements for cryptocurrency exchanges line sports arenas. The POTUS has several personal cryptocurrencies that they flaunt at every opportunity. You’ve almost certainly had at least one unbearable acquaintance or family member “try to get you in on the ground floor” of some “totally radical new cryptocurrency that’s going to shake up the ecosystem”, much to your chagrin. There’s a lot of narratives regarding crypto, but one that I particularly loathe is that cryptocurrency will eventually be a useful, positive tool for the purposes of democracy. It won’t. We’re gonna spend a lot of time talking about just how “won’t” it will be. 

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Tempering Potential Post-Election Expectations in Hungary

Hungary’s 21st century shift from liberal democracy into a “hybrid regime” – or a competitive authoritarianist state, as the phenomenon is also sometimes known – has been well-studied and quite heavily maligned by political science thinkers while it has been...
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Due Process Violation and Democratic Erosion in El Salvador

In March 2022, El Salvador declared a state of emergency that would reshape not only the country's political landscape but also their legal foundation. Under the current President Nayib Bukele, the government launched an extreme and shocking crackdown on gang...
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Ecuador on the Edge

Oct 10, 2024 |

Once considered among the most stable countries in Latin America, Ecuador has been rocked by a surge of gang-related violence in the last few years. The homicide rate has more than quadrupled,...

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