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.

Food Security is Rooted Abroad

Global fertilizer supply chains connect geopolitical events abroad to food production at home in ways most consumers don’t see. 

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The Meaning of Silence : What the moment of silence for Melissa Hortman says about American democracy

   On June 14, 2025, the lives of Melissa Hortman who was a House speaker in Minnesota and her husband Mark were taken in what authorities believe to be a politically motivated act of violence. The same day Senator John Hoffman and his wife were also shot and...
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The New Future of Warfare? How Social Media is Inflating Tensions Between the U.S. and Iran.

Social media is moving to the forefront of the ongoing tensions between the U.S. and Iran, with political elites from both sides of the conflict using social media as a weapon to fabricate narratives and generate AI videos to publicly denounce the actions of one...
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Democracy in Israel

Mar 9, 2026 |

Israel has long been viewed as “the only democracy in the Middle East,” yet the system of democracy on which the country runs might not be as free and just as it may seem....

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Populist Reforms in Mexico

Dec 6, 2022 |

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...

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This Musk Be a Joke

Dec 4, 2022 |

“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...

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Dec 2, 2022 |

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...

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