Afiq's Personal Page

Afiq bin Oslan

Welcome! I am Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Public Economics, Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance. I study political economy, specialising in topics such as border politics, disaster politics, environmentalism, and game theory. I received my doctorate in Political Science from Washington University in St. Louis in 2023.

Click here for my CV, and here for my Google Scholar profile. Contact me at afiq.bin-oslan@tax.mpg.de. Please cite my last name as {bin Oslan}.

News

Thank you for your submissions to our "Strange political bedfellows" call for proposals. Evaluations are now underway and decisions are expected around mid-January.

Publications

Forthcoming, "Spies in a barrel: When to reel in espionage," in Journal of Theoretical Politics: OnlineFirst (with T. Ryan Johnson). doi.org/10.1177/09516298251403415

Forthcoming, "Liberties and partisanship under straining US-China relations," in Statistics, Politics and Policy: ahead of publication. doi.org/10.1515/spp-2025-0047

2025, "How to smuggle contraband and influence border policy," in Political Research Quarterly 78(4): 1445-1458. doi.org/10.1177/10659129251366948

2025, "Economic origins of border fortifications," in Journal of Peace Research 62(4): 882-896. doi.org/10.1177/00223433241265006

2025, "Displacement, not obstruction: Why insecure leaders need not fear free media," in Journal of Political Institutions and Political Economy 6(2): 135-160 (with İpek Ece Şener). doi.org/10.1561/113.00000120

2024, “Persistent and self-perpetuating political differences between neighbouring communities,” in Rationality and Society 36(4): 502-527. doi.org/10.1177/10434631241232754

2021, “Issue ownership and salience shocks: The electoral impact of Australian bushfires,” in Electoral Studies 74 (with Jordan H. McAllister). doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2021.102389

Working papers

"Shaking up the vote: The electoral impact of induced earthquakes," (with Jordan H. McAllister). Accepted at International Political Science Review.

"When environmental protections backfire at home and abroad."

"Play nice, party hard," (with Yixuan Shi).