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.

Protecting Democracy: Indigenous-led Social Movements in Guatemala 2023

Through Indigenous leadership, Guatemalans successfully resisted a competitive authoritarian regime, ensuring a peaceful transition of power following the 2023 election of Bernardo Arévalo. Democratic resurgence in Guatemala occurred in 2023 because a broad pro-democracy coalition capitalized on regime errors and overreach, resisting these authoritarian tactics through nonviolent civil resistance.

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A Nobel Laureate Suspended, A Journalist Jailed: Tunisia’s Slide into Competitive Authoritarianism

On April 24, 2026, Tunisian President Kais Saied’s government suspended the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH). This organization shared the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize for its role in saving the country’s democratic transition. The same day, authorities detained Zied...
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On the ousting of Orbán

On the lessons learned from Orbán’s ouster.

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Trump’s January 6 Pardons

Feb 14, 2025 |

Donald Trump's pardoning of roughly 1,500 criminal defendants charged from the January 6th insurrection is a dangerous step in undermining American democracy and freedom. It reveals deeper concerns...

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Blog Post 1

Feb 13, 2025 |

One reading I’d like to touch on is Chapter One of Levitsky and Ziblatt’s book, “How Democracies Die”. At first, I didn’t understand why the Aesop passage was included in the chapter: then I...

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