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.

Shaking Up Democracy: Is Mexico’s 2024 Judicial Reform Democratic Backsliding?

Is Mexico’s 2024 Judicial Reform Democratic Backsliding?

When Violence Breaks the Surface: The Kirk Incident as a Warning for American Democracy

By Stavros Ligris The shooting of Charlie Kirk during a university event in Utah this September has been described as shocking, tragic, and destabilizing. But it should also be understood as part of a larger pattern of democratic decline in the United States. What...

First 100 Days, More Like First 100 Hours: How Trump’s First 100 Days Played Out Against Trump’s Second 100 Hours

Indiana Senator Jim Banks, a staunch Trump ally, predicted that President Trump’s return to power would be characterized by “shock and awe.” In many ways, the events of President Trump’s first 100 hours in office during his second term have lived up to that promise....

Javier Milei’s “War on Diversity” and Role In Argentina’s Democratic Erosion

Feb 14, 2025 | Boston University

Argentinian president Javier Milei's recent so called "War on Diversity" has sparked mass protest, with the result being thousands taking to the streets. This comes as a...

India’s Democratic Crisis

Feb 14, 2025 | Boston University

Being named the world’s largest democracy with over 1.4 billion people in population size, its democratic nature is seemingly dying a slow death. The gradual decline of...

The Uphill Battle for Democracy in Vietnam

Dec 8, 2022 | Boston University

On June 23rd 2022, Phan Huu Diep Anh, a Facebook user living in Ho Chi Minh City, was sentenced to one and a half years in prison on the charge of “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe on State...

Populist Reforms in Mexico

Dec 6, 2022 | SUNY-Binghamton

Another populist attempts to strengthen their power through eliminating electoral institutions in Mexico. Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador has used his power in the presidency to...

The Republican Party Has a Viktor Orbán Problem

Dec 5, 2022 | Skidmore College

On August 4, 2022, Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán spoke at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas, Texas. CPAC is a conference where American...

Conspiracy Theories and the 2020 United States Elections

Dec 4, 2022 | SUNY-Binghamton

On January 6, 2021, the American public received a startling reminder of the effects of conspiracy theories. As a direct result of President Trump’s conspiratorial rhetoric, a violent mob invaded...

Ortega’s Obstruction of Fair Process in Nicaragua

Dec 4, 2022 | SUNY-Binghamton

Nicaragua is a coastal country in Central America founded in 1821 after gaining independence from Spain, then joining the Mexican...

This Musk Be a Joke

Dec 4, 2022 | SUNY-Binghamton

“Elon Musk he’s such a f***ing moron” (Conover, 2022) said Adam Conover in relation to Elon Musk on the Trillionaire Pod, a podcast. Elon Musk who recently bought Twitter in an effort to “clean...

How Conspiracy Theories Helped Putin Secure Power

Dec 4, 2022 | SUNY-Binghamton

Since Vladimir Putin has had his hand in Russian politics, he has peddled in conspiratorial thinking to help himself gain support and power within his country and the world. Russia has regained its...

Dec 2, 2022 | SUNY-Binghamton

Right beneath the noses of citizens of every country in the world, lies a massive, interconnected network where humans are bought and sold, just like any other illicit commodity. The International...

Egypt Still Has a Pharaoh: The Al-Sisi Regime

Nov 30, 2022 | Suffolk University

Gone are the days of the ancient Egyptian Kingdom where the great pyramids were built and one of the earliest forms of written communication were developed, but one thing has lingered: the...