Courtney Blackington is a Teaching Assistant Professor and Academic Advisor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh. She received her PhD in Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and holds a BA in Government from the College of William and Mary and a MA in Political Science from Columbia University. Her research focuses on how political socialization, religious socialization, and emotions shape the likelihood that people will mobilize in defense of—or against—liberal democratic institutions and rights. She also studies what makes some conspiracy theories spread widely and how conspiratorial rhetoric affects attitudes towards policies that erode democratic institutions and rights. Her research has been supported by the U.S. Department of State, American Councils, the European Union, the BEAR Network, UNC, and the University of Pittsburgh. She has published in Perspectives on Politics, Government and Opposition, East European Politics, East European Politics and Societies, Politics, Religion, and Ideology, The Monkey Cage and The Loop. She is a former Fulbright and Title VIII Scholar at the Polish Academy of Sciences and the University of Warsaw.
