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.

Arresting Opposition and Squashing Protests: Democratic Backsliding in Turkey Under Erdoğan

Turkey has been inching towards autocracy under Erdoğan and the AKP for the last 22 years.

2025 Romanian Elections: An Election Redo and a Barred Candidate

Only two weeks out from Presidential Elections, Romanian voters face a tough decision in deciding on the next leader of their country. The latest opinion polls show that nearly 40% of voters are still undecided on who to vote for. After all, most voters already cast...

Why Protecting American Democracy Means Coming Together In Protest

In the lead up to the 2020 presidential election, the Democratic Erosion Consortium's very own professors Robert Blair and Steven Rosenzweig wrote an article in The Boston Globe urging readers to “Get ready to protest like democracy depends on it.” The article was in...

Does the State of US Media Mean We Are in Democratic Free-fall? No, Not Really.

Sep 12, 2024 | Ohio State University

The environment around US media has shifted dramatically over the last decade. Independence in US journalism has been a source of pride and confidence to the US people, but...

What Is Happening In Venezuela? And What Can We Expect Moving Forward?

Sep 12, 2024 | University of Notre Dame

Laura Gamboa is an Assistant Professor of Democracy and Global Affairs at the Keough School at the University of Notre Dame. She is an Affiliated Faculty of the Democratic...

Constitutional Mayhem: Democratic Erosion at Brown University

May 3, 2022 | Brown University

When one thinks of democratic institutions and voting procedures it is often within the context of national and local governance. In other words, the societal apparatuses in place that allow...

Armenian Genocide Denial: A Symptom of Democratic Erosion

May 2, 2022 | Brown University

In April 2021, President Biden became the first U.S. President to refer to the systematic killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915 as a genocide, after years of Armenian Americans,...

The End of Hungarian Democracy?

May 2, 2022 | SUNY-Binghamton

In 1989 the Soviet Union was reaching the end of its life; the Iron Curtain had corroded, and independence movements were sprouting up in both the Soviet Republics and its many satellite...

A Threat to Humanitarian Organizations: Zimbabwe Parliament Goes After PVOs

May 2, 2022 | Ohio State University

In a country where democratic rights are already sparse, Zimbabweans involved in private voluntary organizations (PVOs) may face even more intense scrutiny from the government. A PVO is very similar...

Brazil’s Democracy Is Fighting for Life

May 1, 2022 | University of Georgia

Two parties, two charismatic leaders, and a history of struggling to maintain democracy is the backdrop to this story. The Federative Republic of Brazil has been governing Brazil since 1988 after...

Is Empathy Really an Effective Tool for Reducing Polarisation?

Apr 30, 2022 | Brown University

Amid alarming levels of political polarisation, politicians, civil society, and ordinary citizens alike call for greater empathy between partisans. But is empathy really an effective tool for...

Democratic Backsliding in the Middle East’s Former Beacon of Democracy: Polarization and Media Control by Erdoğan and the AKP

Apr 30, 2022 | SUNY-Binghamton

For years, Turkey was hailed as being an exemplary case of a rare, developing, and withstanding secular democracy in a Muslim-majority society. However, under the rule of President Recep Tayyip...

Brazil: Democracy Endangered on the Amazon?

Apr 29, 2022 | University of Georgia

The Amazon Rainforest: a lush jungle that more closely resembles a single, living, breathing organism rather than a collection of individual greenery. Perhaps the center-right leaders of the West...

Would Becoming Economically More Independent Affect Labor Standards in Other Countries?

Apr 29, 2022 | Suffolk University

Child labor has been a global problem for decades. Is the United States simultaneously combating the rates of child labor in trade? Can India be an example that increased trade with developing...