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 theme leader at Amsterdam Centre for European Studies (ACES) and researcher at Humboldt-Governance Lab.

I study preference formation and change in European politics. My research examines elite policy reversals under institutional, fiscal, and normative pressure; the economic and material conditions that shape public attitudes toward immigration and integration; and the reach and limits of political persuasion. I use survey experiments, field experiments, and natural experiments for causal inference.

My research has appeared in journals such as Journal of Politics, British Journal of Political Science, European Journal of Political Research, Political Behavior, and Political Science Research and Methods.

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

Publications

Unan, A. (2025). Preference reversals in early policy adoption. 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.

Cheng-Matsuno, V., Foos, F., John, P., 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

Work in Progress

Ruimte voor iedereen: How housing promises reshape immigration attitudes

Technology, skills, and shortages: Labor-market cues in public attitudes toward immigration

When flexibility replaces credibility: Citizen evaluations of adaptive political leadership

How governments divide and rule (with A. Hager)