Clark University Professor: U.S. Democracy Facing ‘Slow Drip’ Decline

By Hank Stolz

WORCESTER, Mass. — In the early months of President Donald Trump’s administration, political scientist Kristen Williams watched with growing alarm. As a professor at Clark University specializing in nationalism, international security, and ethnic conflict, she anticipated disruption. What surprised her was the velocity.

“I knew it would be bad,” she said. “But I didn’t expect it to happen this fast.”

In an interview with Hank Stolz on Radio Worcester’s Talk of the Commonwealth, Williams described a rapid unraveling of democratic norms during Trump’s first 100 days, drawing from both her scholarship and activism. She organized a rally in late April, titled “Knowledge is Power,” uniting Worcester’s academic institutions in defense of academic freedom and democratic values.

“We have these incredible colleges and universities here,” she said. “And they’re being targeted by the administration. We had to respond.”

Williams, like many of her colleagues across the country, sees echoes of democratic backsliding in the administration’s actions. She draws parallels to Hungary, where Viktor Orbán’s government steadily eroded academic independence and institutional autonomy. “It’s not about an overnight coup,” she said. “It’s a slow drip. Bit by bit, institutions lose their ability to resist.”

That “drip, drip, drip” is visible, she argues, in efforts to centralize executive power, discredit judicial independence, and sideline dissent. “This is the autocrat’s playbook,” she said.

Throughout the conversation, Stolz pressed on whether the public truly recognizes what is at stake. In everyday discourse, concerns over due process, for example, are often drowned out by fear-based appeals. Williams acknowledged this difficulty: “Sure, it’s easy to point at someone accused of a crime and say they don’t deserve rights. But if we deny due process to one person, that precedent can be used against any of us.”

The conversation turned to Congress, where Williams expressed deep concern over the abdication of legislative power. “It’s fascinating as a political scientist,” she said. “Congress has the power of the purse, yet we’re watching them willingly hand it over.”

Williams noted that democracy doesn’t collapse with a bang but with silence from those positioned to resist. She pointed to Harvard political scientist Steven Levitsky’s work, How Democracies Die, and echoed the book’s warning: institutional decay and political complicity are the precursors to authoritarianism.

Internationally, she sees worry among American allies. While the United States remains a global superpower, Williams emphasized, it cannot lead without credibility. “If you don’t have followers, you can’t be a leader,” she said. Countries across Europe, she noted, are already taking steps to reduce reliance on American goods and leadership.

As the conversation closed, Williams looked ahead to the upcoming midterm elections. She suggested they could serve as a bellwether for the country’s democratic health but warned against assuming that electoral wins would automatically reverse course. “Even with a shift in power,” she said, “partisan divisions run so deep that meaningful change will be difficult.”

Williams is not on social media but continues to work with local universities and plans another rally in early September. “There’s still a window for civic engagement,” she said. “But it’s closing.”

This article is based on an interview originally aired on Talk of the Commonwealth, hosted by Hank Stolz for Radio Worcester.