Prof. Tamir Sheafer

 Dean of the Faculty of Social Science

Email: msstamir@mscc.huji.ac.il

Academic Background and Fields of Interests

I am a Professor in the Department of Political Science and the Department of Communication and Journalism, and one of the founders of the university’s Political Communication program. My main area of research and teaching is political communication. My theoretical and empirical efforts are focused on bringing the media into political processes and political science models, and introducing politics into media theories. My research so far has focused on issues such as the role of charisma in politics, political personalization, media effects in Israeli political campaigns, media effects during political conflicts and mediated public diplomacy.

Currently I am involved in a large-scaled project that centers on the effects of political culture and narrative proximity between nations, and their role in such issues as international communication flow and public diplomacy.

I have a lot of experience in political and media consultation for Israeli politicians and public organizations. In the past I have worked as a reporter for the Hadashot daily newspaper.

Selected publications:

  • Sheafer, T. (2001). Charismatic Skill and Media Legitimacy: An Actor-Centered Approach to Understanding the Political Communication Competition. Communication Research, 28(6), 711-736.  

  • Sheafer, T., & Weimann, G. (2005). Agenda-Building, Agenda-Setting, Priming, Individual Voting Intentions and the Aggregate Results: An Analysis of Four Israeli Elections. Journal of Communication, 55(2), 347-365.  

  • Rahat, G., & Sheafer, T. (2007). The Personalization(s) of Politics: Israel 1949-2003. Political Communication, 24(1), 65-80.  

  • Sheafer, T. (2007). How to evaluate it: The role of story evaluative tone in agenda setting and priming. Journal of Communication, 57(1), 21-39.  

  • Sheafer, T., & Wolfsfeld, G. (2009). Party Systems and Oppositional Voices in the News Media. International Journal of Press/Politics, 14(2), 146-165.  

  • Sheafer, T., & Gabay, I. (2009). Mediated public diplomacy: A strategic contest over international agenda building and frame building. Political Communication, 26(4), 447–467.

  • Balmas, M., & Sheafer, T. (2010). Candidate image in election campaigns: Attribute agenda setting, affective priming, and voting behavior. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 22(2), 204-229.  

  • Sheafer, T., Shenhav, S. R., & Goldstein, K. (2010). Voting for our story: A Narrative Model of Electoral Choice in Multiparty Systems. Comparative Political Studies, 44(3), 313-338.

  • Sheafer, T., Shenhav, S. R. (forthcoming). Political Culture Congruence and Political Stability: Revisiting the Hypothesis with Prospect Theory. Journal of Conflict Resolution.

  • Balmas, M., & Sheafer, T. (forthcoming).  Leaders first, countries after: Mediated political personalization in the international arena. Journal of Communication.

  • Sheafer, T., Shenhav, S., Takens, J., & van Atteveldt, W. (forthcoming). Relative Political and Value Proximity in Mediated Public Diplomacy: The Effect of State-Level Homophily on International Frame Building. Political Communication.

  • Shenhav, S. R., Oshri, O., Ofek, D., & Sheafer, T. (forthcoming). Story coalitions: Some implications of applying narrative theory to the study of coalition formation. Political Psychology.

Recent Activities and Awards:

  • Appointed Vice Dean of the Social Sciences Faculty.

  • Prof. Tamir Sheafer and colleagues from Belgium and Canada, lead by Prof. Stefaan Walgrave from Antwerp University, won 2.5 Million-Euro research grant from European Union to study information processing by politicians.

  • Member in NEPOCS: The Network of European Political Communication Scholars.

  • Appointed to Editorial boards: International Journal of Public Opinion Research, Political Communication, and Public Opinion Quarterly.

  • Chair of the political communication MA program.

  • Receipient of two grants from the Israel Science Foundation. The latest grant is for research on mapping the World of Political Culture: The Political and Political Communication Effects of Cultural Resonance (With Shaul Shenhav) $55,500  .