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.

The Erosion of an Already Weak Democracy: The Rise and Fall of Jovenel Moïse

Jovenel Moïse's presidency marked a dangerous shift from Haiti's already shaky democracy to overt authoritarianism. Delayed elections, unchecked abuse of executive power, and violent suppression of resistance became the norm. By the time of his assassination in 2021,...

Undermining the Feedback Loop: How Trump’s Educational Policies Hinder Democratic Accountability

In a larger trend of censoring opinions which the Trump administration views as undesirable, the Trump administration’s actions towards schools and universities has a negative impact on democracy as a whole. Such a system depends on the free transmission of...

Democracy Six Feet Under: How Disinformation is Burying Philippine Democracy Alive

Philippine democracy is in great danger once again now that the two families who benefited the most from disinformation – the Marcoses and Dutertes, are in power and have turned against one another. As both camps sling disinformation against each other, the...

Trump’s January 6 Pardons

Feb 14, 2025 | Boston University

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...

The Fear of Losing Family: Donald Trumps Controversial Immigration Policies

Feb 14, 2025 | Boston University

Image From: Chicago Council of Global Affairs Since he first ran for office in 2016, one of Donald Trump's biggest concerns was clear: illegal immigration. President Trump...

What the Dobbs Decision and the Feminist Green Wave Mean for Democracy

Dec 19, 2022 | Skidmore College

Common conceptualizations of democracy emphasize the importance of government and institutions in protecting the rights of marginalized people. In a democracy, laws are meant to apply equally to...

Polarization and the Further Division of Spain

Dec 19, 2022 | SUNY-Binghamton

https://www.gisreportsonline.com/r/divided-spain/ Spain has seen political polarization and country-wide division in its recent history. At the conclusion of Francisco Franco’s authoritarian regime...

Democratic Erosion with the 2022 Italian General Election

Dec 19, 2022 | SUNY-Binghamton

Democratic Erosion in Italy with the 2022 elections For most of the modern era the Italian Republic has been an incredibly unstable democracy since its creation after the second World War. For...

Constitutional Rights in a State of Emergency: The Case of Vietnam

Dec 18, 2022 | Boston University

In March 2020, COVID-19 was officially declared a pandemic; as the medical community worked to find a vaccine, the information world was rampant with misinformation. The Vietnamese government...

The Hostess with the Mostest

Dec 18, 2022 | Skidmore College

Qatar has been ruled by a single family known as the Al Thani since 1847. Although the Al-Thani have always controlled Qatar they have gone through phases of colonization by the British. Qatar...

The End of an Era: It May be Time to Let Twitter Go

Dec 17, 2022 | Skidmore College

Elon Musk has started to run Twitter into the ground. He has laid off about half of the company’s full-time employees, caused chaos after making blue check mark verifications a purchasable...

Winter Is Coming, But We Are Already in a Cold Civil War

Dec 17, 2022 | Skidmore College

Since the recent polarization of American political life, voter suppression and anti-democratic sentiments have been on the forefront of a war against democracy. America is in the heat of...

What If It Was Lebron James: Brittney Griner’s Release and the Bigger Picture

Dec 17, 2022 | Skidmore College

If it were Lebron James or Tom Brady, the United States would have gone to war. What should be celebrated as a win for America, the release of wrongfully detained WNBA star Brittney Griner, has...

Protesting in Mitch McConnell’s Backyard

Dec 17, 2022 | Suffolk University

On June 24th, 2022 the United States Supreme Court issued one of the most controversial decisions in its two centuries of existence. Supreme Court - Source: Unsplash This past summer, having just...