Aslı Unan

Assistant Professor in European Political Economy

University of Amsterdam

Amsterdam, Netherlands

I am an Assistant Professor in European Political Economy at the University of Amsterdam. Previously, I was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Political Behavior at Humboldt University of Berlin. I received my PhD in Political Economy at King's College London. I am also affiliated with Amsterdam Centre for European Studies (ACES) and Humboldt-Governance Lab.

My interdisciplinary research focuses on political behavior and political economy, with an emphasis on preference formation, policy reversals, and transboundary crises. I examine how policymakers and citizens respond to economic and political challenges, how preferences shift on complex policy issues, and where elite–citizen misalignments emerge. Methodologically, I use survey data, field experiments, and quasi-random events for causal inference.

To learn more about my work, you can check my publications, working papers, research projects, teaching, and my CV.

Publications

Unan, A. (2025). Preference reversals in early policy adoption. Forthcoming in Policy & Politics.

Rodriguez, I., Rodon, T., Unan, A., Klüver, H., Herbig, L., and Kuhn, T. (2025). How the UK's covid-19 vaccine roll-out impacted EU attitudes in EU countries. British Journal of Political Science.

Herbig, L., Unan, A., Kuhn, T., Rodriguez, I., Rodon, T., Klüver, H. (2025). Closed borders, closed minds? COVID-related border closures, EU support, and hostility towards immigrants. European Journal of Political Research.

Unan, A., Klüver, H., Hobolt, S., Rodon, T. (2025). The political effects of communicative interventions during crises. European Journal of Political Research.

Unan, A. (2024). Media exposure to highly skilled immigrants and attitudes toward immigration. Political Behavior.

Unan, A., and Klüver, H. (2024). Europeans' attitudes toward the EU following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Political Science Research and Methods.

Unan, A., John, P., Foos, F., and Cheng-Matsuno, V. (2023). Null effects of social media ads on voter registration: Three digital field experiments. Research & Politics 11:1.

Foos, F., John, P., Cheng-Matsuno, V., and Unan, A. (2023). When do text messages increase voter registration? Evidence from RCTs with a local authority and an advocacy organization in the UK. Electoral Studies 81:102572.

Fabbe, K., Kyrkopoulou, E., Matakos, K., and Unan, A. (2023). Control and Fairness: What determines elected local leaders' support for hosting refugees in their community? Journal of Politics 85:2.

Hargreaves Heap, S., Koop, C., Matakos, K., Weber, N., and Unan, A. (2021). Good news reduces trust in government and its efficacy: The case of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine announcement. PLOS One 16(12): e0260216.

Ozel, I., and Unan, A. (2019). Decoupling Trends: Drivers of Agency Independence in Telecommunications: An Analysis of high and middle-income countries. Regulation & Governance 15: 32-62.

Working Papers

Conformational Forms of Climate Protest and Support for Climate Action. (with D. Milosav and H. Klüver).

Victim-blaming social norms and violence against women: Correcting misperceptions or morality drive policy and behavior change? (with S. Bermek and K. Matakos) VoxEU

We cannot disagree forever! Reality polarization and citizens' post-pandemic fiscal adjustment preferences. (w/ S.P. Hargreaves Heap, C. Koop, K. Matakos, N. Weber) the Washington Post