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.

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....

History Repeats: Why Strong Global Defense is Key to Preventing Autocracy

A strong and consistent global defense by democratic nations is crucial to preventing the rise of autocratic regimes, as history shows—from the Cold War doctrines to the failed democratization of Afghanistan—that without committed follow-through and structural reform, authoritarian forces will exploit weaknesses and reclaim power.

The Unraveling of Bulgarian Democracy

Oct 30, 2024 | Ohio State University

Bulgaria saw massive protests in 2020 against Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and his administration. These demonstrated the democratic backsliding that had been occurring...

Honduras: How Populism Lead to the Removal of the Extradition Treaty

Oct 30, 2024 | Ohio State University

Honduras has struggled with gang violence and, therefore, drug trafficking since the fall of Dictator-Military Leader Rafael López Gutiérrez from 1924. To this day, Honduras...

Fear and Loathing in Tucker Carlson Tonight: How the Fox News Host Builds on the Emotions of the American Right

May 4, 2022 | Brown University

The rise of former U.S. President Donald Trump spawned a veritable cottage industry of books purported to offer confused Trump opponents insight into what his supporters were thinking. The New York...

Producing the Monopoly of Violence: Police Unions and Democracy

May 4, 2022 | Brown University

Unions are designed to create power, using a variety of tools that can only be achieved with collective action: the threat of strikes, lawsuits, bad press, boycotts, etc. Police unions function...

Donald Trump, Pro Wrestling, and the Future of American Politics

May 4, 2022 | University of California, San Diego

It's a head game. When you know you're faking and the audience knows you're faking and you know the audience knows you know you're faking because the fact that pro wrestling is fake has been...

A President Turns His Back on Democracy

May 4, 2022 | University of California, San Diego

Strong democratic institutions were not created from the standpoint of governments being comprised of moral representatives focused on only the collective good. If our elected officials were always...

Voting with the Head or the Heart? Empathy as a Tool to Promote Discourse

May 3, 2022 | Brown University

American politics has entered what is likely the most polarized era in its history (1). According to Pew Research’s studies, about 85% of Americans feel that in recent times, political discourse in...

New Problems Call for New Solutions: A Case for Democratizing Big Tech

May 3, 2022 | Brown University

In a previous article, I examined the effects of changes to Facebook’s News Feed algorithm to prioritize “Meaningful Social Interactions” (MSI), drawing broad conclusions about both the potential...

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...