People

Brigitte Nacos areas of teaching and research interests are (1) terrorism and counterterrorism and (2) the links between mass media, public opinion, and political decision making. Together with Professors Robert Shapiro and Yaeli Bloch-Elkon, Brigitte is working on a research project about the role of traditional and new communication means in the rise of the Tea Party; and in the subsequent rise of Donald Trump and his movement through the 2015/16 election campaign and his presidency. Related to this, they also explore the changing transmission modes of conspiracy theories in past and present times, the misuse of “alternative facts” and “post-truth”, and the importance of traditional and social media in contemporary populism, demagoguery, authoritarian and fascist tendencies, and mass-mediated group pressures on moral disengagement.