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.

South Africa’s Democracy: Why Gradual Institutional Weakening and Public Distrust Matter

Democracy doesn't necessarily die suddenly. A country can continue to have elections, courts, political parties, and freedom of speech, but its democracy could gradually erode. I think South Africa is a great example of that. South Africa remains a democracy but...
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Venezuela Still Had Elections. So, What Happened to Democracy?

Venezuela and Democratic Erosion When people imagine a democracy turning authoritarian, they often picture a military coup or a leader suddenly canceling elections. Venezuela shows that democratic decline can happen much more slowly. Elections, courts, legislatures,...
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Bread in a Backsliding Circus? Broken Distributive Promises Fueling Indonesia’s Student Protests

Indonesia has long maintained a fragile relationship with democracy, teetering between dictatorship under Suharto until 1998, to becoming one of Asia’s most celebrated democratic success stories in the 2000s, and now again slowly backsliding towards authoritarianism...
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