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 a particular emphasis on preference and policy formation and reversals, transboundary crises, and political engagement. I study how preferences shift on multilayered policy issues, how support for complex policies forms, and where elite–citizen misalignments emerge. Methodologically, I use survey and field experiments, elite surveys, and leverage natural and quasi-random events. You can read my CV here.

Publications

Benchmarking pandemic response: How the UK's COVID-19 vaccine rollout impacted diffuse and specific support for the EU. 2025 (w/ I. Rodriguez, L.Herbig, T.Rodon, H.Klüver, T.Kuhn) British Journal of Political Science

Closed borders, closed minds? COVID-related border closures, EU support, and hostility towards immigrants (w/ L. Herbig, T.Kuhn, I.Rodríguez, T. Rodon, H.Klüver) Forthcoming in European Journal of Political Research

The political effects of communicative interventions during crises. (w/ H. Klüver, S. Hobolt, T. Rodon) Forthcoming in European Journal of Political Research

Media exposure to highly skilled immigrants and attitudes toward immigration. 2024 Political Behavior

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

Null effects of social media ads on voter registration: Three digital field experiments. 2024 (w/ P. John, F. Foos, V. Cheng) Research & Politics 11(1)

What determines elected local leaders' support for hosting refugees in their community? 2023 (w/ K. Fabbe, E.Kyrkopoulou, K. Matakos) Journal of Politics 85:2, 778-783

Do text messages increase voter registration? Evidence from RCTs with a local authority and an advocacy organisation in the UK. 2023 (w/ F. Foos, P. John, V. Cheng) Electoral Studies, 81 (102572)

Good news for whom? The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine announcement reduced political trust. 2021 (w/ S.P. Hargreaves Heap, C. Koop, K. Matakos, N. Weber) PLOS One 16 (12)

Decoupling trends: Drivers of agency independence in telecommunications: An analysis of high and middle‐income countries. 2019 (w/ I. Özel) Regulation & Governance 15 (1)

Working Papers

Preference reversals in early policy adoption. Revise & Resubmit

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