Eric B. Shiraev: eshiraev@gmu.edu
Eric Shiraev is a professor, researcher, author, and editor of more than twenty books on international relations, political psychology, comparative politics, and cross-cultural psychology. His multi-disciplinary approach emphasizes the role of culture and identity in politics and social life. His research into character assassination focuses on the use of political psychology to analyze history and international relations. His research interests also include psychological warfare and defenses against it, Russian and Eurasian politics, and psychological factors to explain political leaders.
Sergei A. Samoilenko: ssamoyle@gmu.edu
Sergei Samoilenko is Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at George Mason University. His research focuses on issues in the fields of crisis communication, reputation management, public relations, and social conflict. He authored and co-authored several books and publications on disruption, transgression, and subversion.
Martijn Icks: M.Icks@uva.nl
Martijn Icks is Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Amsterdam. He studies character assassination and reputation management from a historical perspective. His main field of interest is the history of the Roman Empire, in particular the representation, visibility and accessibility of Roman imperial power. His publications include The Crimes of Elagabalus: The Life and Legacy of Rome’s Decadent Boy Emperor (2011), Character Assassination throughout the Ages (2014, co-edited with Eric Shiraev) and Character Assassination and Reputation Management: Theory and Applications (2022, co-authored with Eric Shiraev, Jennifer Keohane and Sergei Samoilenko).
Jennie Keohane: jkeohane@ubalt.edu
Jennifer Keohane is Assistant Professor in the Klein Family School of Communications Design at the University of Baltimore. She has a PhD in rhetoric from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she wrote her dissertation about the feminist activism of American Communist women during the early Cold War. She’s especially interested in red-baiting as a form of character assassination. Dr. Keohane is the author of Feminist Voices and Communist Rhetoric in Cold War America. The book explores how women affiliated with the Communist Party during the early Cold War sustained feminist activism during a repressive time period in U.S. history.
Character Assassination and Reputation Politics Research Lab 