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 Stealthy Decay: Türkiye’s Democratic Erosion

Apr 19, 2026 | George Mason University

For much of the early twenty-first century, Türkiye was often considered a successful example of democratic consolidation in a Muslim-majority country. Political scientists...

Before the Ballot Arrives: Trump’s Mail Voting Order and the Capture of Election Infrastructure

Apr 19, 2026 | Suffolk University

By March 24th, Donald Trump had voted by mail in a special election to fill a seat in Florida’s lower chamber. A week later, he signed an executive order directing the...

Trump vs The Judiciary: A Brief Spat or a Wider Issue?

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

In mid-March, Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported from the United States under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. This is despite the fact that Mr. Garcia was barred from being deported under an order...

Marine Le Pen’s Conviction and the Erosion of Democracy in France

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

On the 31st March the leader of the French far-right party (The National Rally), Marine Le Pen, was banned from running in the 2027 presidential election. She was convicted of embezzlement of...

Senegal: Success or Failure?

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

Being known as one of the more stable democracies in Africa, with a ranking of 10th in regards to the democratic index for African countries in 2022, Senegal has had a long standing history of...

The Alien Enemies Act: Mass Deportation as a Pathway to Democratic Erosion

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

Trump’s notorious anti-immigration plans have remained ambitious during his second term in office, promising he “will launch the largest deportation program in American history to get the...

Executive Aggrandizement & Institutional Resistance: South Korea

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

On December 3rd, 2024, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law on the basis that the “North Korean Communist forces” and “Anti-State forces” had infiltrated the legislative...

How the Economic State Impacts Politics

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

One connection I see between the United States right now and Weimar Germany is the economic state. The failure of the economic system in Germany, “Acted as a trigger, occasioning the abandonment of...

The Role of Universities in Keeping American Democracy Alive

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

Political scientists Matthew Cleary and Aykut Öztürk, in their article When Does Backsliding Lead to Breakdown? Uncertainty and Opposition Strategies in Democracies at Risk, explain how democratic...

Creating a Unified Front: Combating Trump’s Immigration Policies

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

A video published by the Associated Press News on April 16, 2025, shows U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents surround the car of Juan Francisco Mendez, a Guatemalan man who had...

Trump Cracks Down on Campus Dissent

Apr 18, 2025 | Boston University

Since Trump’s reelection, his administration has waged a series of attacks on pro-Palestinian campus protests, most notably at Harvard and Columbia. In freezing the federal funding of universities...