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.

Before the Ballot Arrives: Trump’s Mail Voting Order and the Capture of Election Infrastructure

By March 24th, Donald Trump had voted by mail in a special election to fill a seat in Florida’s lower chamber. A week later, he signed an executive order directing the federal government to control who else gets a mail ballot. The order, titled "Ensuring Citizenship...
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Popularity Doesn’t Equal Democracy: A Look Into El Salvador’s Puzzle

Since President Nayib Bukele took office in 2019, El Salvador has undermined norms by changing the constitution, branches of government, and civil rights. While this directly threatens democracy, Bukele's approval ratings remain at a high 92%, due to short-term...
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The BJP and Democracy in India

India’s history with democracy is long and often complex, especially when considering cultural factors and the size of the population as it has continued to increase over time. Under Modi and the BJP, we can see an increasing slide towards authoritarianism and was...
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