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.

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...
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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.

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Syria’s “transition” Is Creating a New Authoritarianism-Not Democracy.

Syria is often referred to as a country in transition. That is deceiving A transition implies progress toward something better—usually democracy. However, Syria's present political trajectory points in a completely different direction. My point is that Syria's...
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Hungary’s Opportunity

Apr 17, 2026 |

Under the leadership of former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the Fidesz party, Hungary faced years of gradual erosion of its democracy. By rewriting the constitution, a power granted by a ⅔...

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