Aslı Unan
Assistant Professor in European Political Economy
University of Amsterdam
Email: a.unan@uva.nl
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Research
Economic Change and Political Engagement
Projects
Technology, labor markets, and immigration. Principal Investigator. A Fair and Resilient Societies UvA funded project (€40,000) exploring the intersection of technological change, labor markets and immigration through journalistic and citizen lenses, with a focus on perceptions of skills. With Kathleen Beckers (Media Studies) and Maja Hertoghs (Anthropology).
Register to Vote. Project Member. A series of digital field experiments on voter registration through social media and text messages in the UK. With Florian Foos, Peter John and Vanessa Cheng-Matsuno.
Work in progress
Trajectories of Political Disengagement in Changing Economies (with Deren Onursal)
Economic Cues and Immigration Attitudes in the Netherlands (with Kathleen Beckers)
The Hidden Drivers of Immigration News Framing: A Survey Experiment with Dutch Journalists (with Kathleen Beckers)
Public Service Disruptions and Far-Right Support in Germany (with Daniel Scates)
Political Commitments and Policy Reversals
Book
The Politics of Policy Reversals in Europe. Book manuscript in progress. The book examines why political actors reverse publicly stated commitments, and why some policy promises become unsustainable over time. It develops a theory of dimensional expansion, arguing that commitments often become unstable when implementation activates new material, institutional or normative pressures that were initially underweighted. Combining comparative analysis of policy reversals across the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Germany (2010-2025) with original experimental evidence, the book explores how and why commitments shift across immigration, housing and climate policy.
Work in progress
How Politicians Use Urban Redevelopment to Build Political Support (with Anselm Hager)
Migration, Identity and Representation
Work in progress
The Prospect of Housing Relief and Perceived Threat from Immigration. Revise and resubmit.
EU Migration Enforcement and the Politics of Far-Right Support
Who Counts as European? (with Isabela Zeberio Aguerrevere and Theresa Kuhn)
The Moderate Minority: Candidates’ Race and Ideology in U.S. Elections (with Konstantinos Matakos, George Voucharas and Dimitrios Xefteris)
Crises and Transboundary Challenges
Projects
COVIDEU. Postdoctoral Research Fellow. A Volkswagenstiftung funded project at Humboldt University of Berlin (2022-2023) on how crises affect the EU, with a focus on policy coordination among member states and crisis communication. With Heike Klüver, Sara Hobolt, Theresa Kuhn, Toni Rodon, Michal Krawczyk, Lisa Herbig and Irene Rodríguez.
Understanding the Just Transition. Co-Investigator. An ENLENS UvA funded project (€45,000) examining climate change attitudes through justice and fairness perspectives. With Matteo Fermeglia, Colin Hickey and Christina Eckes.
Multidimensional Policy Responses to COVID-19. Project Member. A King’s Together Award (£18,424) project examining health-wealth preferences and their policy implications during the pandemic. With Shaun Hargreaves Heap, Christel Koop, Kostas Matakos and Nina Weber.
Work in progress
Beating the Heat from the Street: Disruption, Policing and Public Response to Climate Protests (with Đorđe Milosav and Heike Klüver)
Gender Norms and Women’s Empowerment
Projects
Gender Norms and Policy Change. Co-Investigator. An LSE & Templeton funded project studying the relationship between gender norms and progressive policies. With Sevinç Bermek and Kostas Matakos.
Book
Gender-based Violence and Gender Norms (with Sevinç Bermek and Konstantinos Matakos). Forthcoming at Springer Nature.
Work in progress
Reversal of Fortunes? Patriarchal Ownership Norms, Human Capital Formation, and Women’s Socioeconomic Empowerment (with Konstantinos Matakos)