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.

Syria’s “transition” Is Creating a New Authoritarianism-Not Democracy.

Syria is often referred to as a country in transition. That is deceiving A transition implies progress toward something better—usually democracy. However, Syria's present political trajectory points in a completely different direction. My point is that Syria's...

What Peter Magyar’s Win Means for Democracy in Hungary

“We have liberated Hungary and have taken back our country,” said Peter Magyar, announcing his landmark victory against strongman Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Orbán’s striking defeat marks a new era for Hungary as it seeks to rebuild its eroded democracy, strengthen...

Democratic Erosion in Bolivia: A Case of Gradual Internal Decline

Bolivia’s case shows that democracy is not maintained by elections alone, and that there is a possibility of both crisis and recovery through civic participation at the same time despite institutional weakness.

Modern Gerrymandering and Its Damaging Effects on U.S. Electoral Democracy

Mar 30, 2026 | University of Houston

Introduction Gerrymandering is the practice of drawing electoral maps to favor one political party over another. When redrawing maps, the party in power will use two...

Confusion and Control: New Voting Laws Weakening Democracy in America

Mar 30, 2026 | Uncategorized, University of Houston

A core component of democracy is representation through free and fair elections. Free and fair can be defined by who qualifies to vote and then by the actual ability of that...

Donald Trump, An American Demagogue

Jan 28, 2025 | Northeastern University

Throughout our nation's history, only one president could claim the unique honor of having been elected to the presidency twice in nonconsecutive terms. Grover Cleavland, when in 1893 he made due on...

Fighting Fake News: Lessons from the World’s Top Target

Dec 15, 2024 | Brown University

2018 was a year of awakening in Taiwan. Two high-profile events threw the consequences of fake news into relief. First, Su Chii-cherng, the envoy to Osaka for the Taipei Economic and Cultural...

Fighting Fake News: Lessons from the World’s Top Target

Dec 15, 2024 | Brown University

2018 was a year of awakening in Taiwan. Two high-profile events threw the consequences of fake news into relief. First, Su Chii-cherng, the envoy to Osaka for the Taipei Economic and Cultural...

Can Democracies Wait Another 2,500 Years to Meet Today’s Needs?

Dec 11, 2024 | Brown University

In 500 BC, during Athens' golden age of democracy, the voting age was set at 18. Over 2,500 years later, this threshold remains the same in the vast majority (90%) of countries. However, as...

Présidence Impériale: Executive Aggrandizement in Macron’s France

Dec 10, 2024 | Brown University

Romantic evening strolls by the Seine, fragrant cafes and boulangeries, political crises and popular unrest—what is more quintessentially French than these classic Parisian experiences? France, one...

In the U.S. and Western Europe, similar immigration backlash is a symptom of two different problems.

Dec 9, 2024 | Brown University

As the United States and Western European countries confront historic surges in migration, the backlash-fueled success of far-right parties has increasingly been characterized as a global...

Time to Say Au Revoir to Laïcité

Dec 9, 2024 | Brown University

For the past three decades, one article of clothing has captivated the attention of the fashion capital of the world: headscarves. From Marine Le Pen to Emmanuel Macron, no French politician has...

The Digital Divide: Social Media’s Role in Polarization and Democratic Backsliding

Dec 5, 2024 | Brown University

It was a week after Donald Trump won the US 2024 Presidential Election. My little sister texted me frantically: “Mom keeps accusing Dad of voting for Trump. She can’t get off TikTok… She’s...

Addressing the coup-demic: Why Regime Change Matters for Democratic Erosion

Dec 5, 2024 | Brown University

On the very first day of my “Democratic Erosion” seminar, I voiced my unease about the state of democracy in the Sahel—a region currently experiencing an unprecedented wave of political instability....