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.

Why The Save Act Misses The Mark

The current administration's push for the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act has become yet another polarizing topic between the left and the right. The SAVE America Act mandates voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship at the time of...

The Election That May Save Hungary’s Democracy

"Today we won because the Hungarian people didn't ask what their country could do for them, but what they could do for their country," -Péter Magyar Hungary just held its most consequential election in a generation, bringing an end to Viktor Orbán’s sixteen year reign...

Misinformation: The Role it Plays in the Persistence of the 2020 Election

The stability of democracy does not only rely on the security of elections but on the people’s trust of their legitimacy, and the aftermath of the 2020 United States presidential election shows how misinformation, elite influence, and repetition can erode that trust even when systems run properly.

India’s Democratic Decline: Political Elites and Institutional Weakening

Apr 20, 2026 | George Mason University

These days, democratic consolidation has become increasingly difficult, and democracy itself is gradually declining around the world. In particular, it is no longer a rare...

Inclusion vs. Liberalism: The Two Faces of Bolivian Democracy

Apr 20, 2026 | George Mason University, Universities

Introduction Did Bolivia's democracy advance or retreat? Answering this question requires not just looking at the election results but also understanding the two conflicting...

Elections Without Democracy: The Case of Thailand

Apr 19, 2026 | George Mason University

Elections Without Democracy: The Case of Thailand In 2023, the people of Thailand chose change. The Move Forward Party, which carried a progressive platform, won the election by a landslide. But...

Silencing the Bench: How Poland’s “Muzzle Law” Accelerates Democratic Erosion

Apr 19, 2026 | Suffolk University

Democracy depends on more than just elections: it requires strong independent institutions, specifically courts, that can check and balance political power. In Poland, a nation once praised for its...

What Does the United States Democracy Have in Store?

Apr 19, 2026 | Suffolk University

The United States has always had a fair democracy, but in a year our democracy has fallen. One President has made tremendous changes, but many of these changes haven’t been good for us as...

Turkey’s Attempted 2016 Coup is a Symptom, Not a Cause of Democratic Erosion

Apr 19, 2026 | Suffolk University, Uncategorized

On July 15, 2016, tanks and members of the Turkish military took to the streets of Istanbul in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the government. Soldiers invaded the headquarters of the ruling...

Democratic Erosion in Poland’s Judicial Reform

Apr 19, 2026 | Suffolk University

Poland is actively making corrupt efforts to silence those who muster the courage to speak out. In late 2019, the Polish Sejm approved a new law, the muzzle law, that is aimed towards taking...

Ignoring the Referee: Court Defiance and America’s Last Guardrail

Apr 19, 2026 | Suffolk University, Universities

Democracies don’t usually die in a single dramatic moment. They erode quietly and gradually, through a thousand small surrenders. But occasionally, a government does something so blunt that it...

The Democratic Unraveling of Hungary

Apr 19, 2026 | Suffolk University

Economic development alone is insufficient to ensure democratic survival : Tunisia’s case (According to Lipset, Przeworski)

Apr 19, 2026 | George Mason University, Uncategorized

Tunisia shows that ‘economic development alone’ is insufficient to ensure democratic survival- as political institutions and leadership play a critical role. Tunisia was once considered a successful...

Military-Made Sinkholes: The Constitutional Court and the Collapse of Thai Democracy

Apr 19, 2026 | George Mason University

13 and 9. These numbers are of coups d’état that happened in Thailand since adopting the constitutional monarchy in 1932: 13 were successful, and 9 were unsuccessful. Democracy and the political...