A Princeton University professor spoke on the rise of autocracies and what drives the collapse of democracy worldwide during a Thomas S. Foley Institute event on YouTube Tuesday afternoon. Populism is not to blame for the decline of constitutional democracies, speaker Kim Lane Scheppele said during her presentation, “The crisis of democracy in global context.” Instead, the weakening state of traditional political parties is the driver of this decline. Populism is a political tactic used to appeal to the majority of a population while de-legitimizing an opponent’s campaign, Scheppele said. Candidates propose a drastic change the public sees as needed and then go back on many promises made during their campaigns.