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.

Arresting Opposition and Squashing Protests: Democratic Backsliding in Turkey Under Erdoğan

Turkey has been inching towards autocracy under Erdoğan and the AKP for the last 22 years.

2025 Romanian Elections: An Election Redo and a Barred Candidate

Only two weeks out from Presidential Elections, Romanian voters face a tough decision in deciding on the next leader of their country. The latest opinion polls show that nearly 40% of voters are still undecided on who to vote for. After all, most voters already cast...

Why Protecting American Democracy Means Coming Together In Protest

In the lead up to the 2020 presidential election, the Democratic Erosion Consortium's very own professors Robert Blair and Steven Rosenzweig wrote an article in The Boston Globe urging readers to “Get ready to protest like democracy depends on it.” The article was in...

Can “Asia’s Trump” Make a Political Comeback?

Dec 5, 2024 | Brown University

He used methods of intimidation and subverted the rule of law to attack his political enemies. He played the “strong man” to weaken institutional mechanisms and checks...

Democratic Erosion is Exactly What Hungarians Wanted

Dec 5, 2024 | Brown University

Since 2010, Hungary has had the same leader - far-right populist Viktor Orban. He rose in popularity in the late 1980s after he called on the Soviet Red Army to “go home.”...

A New World Order? Digital Authoritarianism

Jan 5, 2023 | Sabanci University

Kate Crawford in her book Atlas of AI argues that AI “grew on the battlefield where it was used to detect enemies, strange objects and maintain strategic control”. [1]The technology to which we...

Fall of Democracy in Turkey

Jan 5, 2023 | Sabanci University

Recently, the global rise of democratic regimes starting during the 1970s with the Third Wave of Democratization has stopped. This wave was then replaced by a rise in autocratic regimes throughout...

Japan: Its Democracy and Freedom of Expression

Jan 5, 2023 | Sabanci University

It is described that the freedom of expression, one of the indispensable elements to remain the nation democratic, in Japan has gradually restricted. Especially in recent decades, this trend is...

Serbia: A case of Competitive Authoritarianism

Jan 5, 2023 | Sabanci University

Serbia: A case of Competitive Authoritarianism After the fall of Milosevic in 2000, democratization process started in Serbia. Along with institutional reforms and adaptation of liberal economic...

Hong Kong, mass protests and their fight against autocratization

Jan 4, 2023 | Sabanci University

In Hong Kong, an unusual kind of protesting started in 2014. Marked by singing and yellow umbrellas, quickly the young students that represented Hong Kong’s peaceful resilience against the growing...

Burkina Faso: a 2022 marked by coups d’état

Jan 4, 2023 | Sabanci University

The two military coups occurred in 2022 in Burkina Faso lead to some conclusions about the development of authoritarian systems On 29 November 2015, general elections were held in Burkina Faso, in...

The Infamous Transformation of SCOTUS: An American Horror Story

Jan 1, 2023 | Sabanci University

In this epoch, it is not seldom to come across an example of backsliding democracy. In a way, this phenomenon defines the gist of our times. However, the kind we witness in the US stands unique with...

Hungary: Europe’s Electoral Autocracy

Jan 1, 2023 | Sabanci University

Democratic backsliding refers to the decline or reversal of democratic principles and practices within a political system. This can be caused by the weakening of democratic institutions and the...

New strategies for avoiding electoral defeat: manoeuvre prior and after elections on the example of Turkey’s

Jan 1, 2023 | Sabanci University

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a practitioner of new authoritarian methods, initiated in the aftermath of the 2015 parliamentary elections a new concept of authoritarian exercise of power. In 2015, the...