Keywords
democracy; authoritarianism; electoral college; civic education; political polarization; United States
Abstract
Throughout American history, the idea of “democracy” has been taught at a base level throughout the school system. While we have been taught what a democracy is, it is rare to understand what a democracy isn’t. There have been threats identified by academics to our democracy throughout different eras in history. Now, in our current political climate, all main threats to democracy have been enacted at once.
This thesis serves as a literature review of a handful of academics and their idea of what the main threats to democracy are. There will be references to different perspectives and schools of thought. I will go into detail on the three possible solutions to the problem of authoritarian populism which include, increasing civic education, reworking the electoral college, and decreasing political polarization. I will then critique the various academics and their works, looking to what a proper strategy should resemble.
Thesis Completion Year
2025
Thesis Completion Semester
Spring
Thesis Chair
Daniel, Marien
College
College of Sciences
Department
School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs
Thesis Discipline
Political Science
Language
English
Access Status
Open Access
Length of Campus Access
None
Campus Location
Orlando (Main) Campus
Subjects
Democracy--Research; Political science literature; Democracy--Study and teaching (Higher); Populism--Historiography; Democracy--Education
STARS Citation
Padgett, Emily A., "Academic Proposals for Combating Authoritarian Populism in the United States: A Review of the Social Science Literature" (2025). Honors Undergraduate Theses. 280.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/hut2024/280
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