Arthur McFarlane
Hello! My name is Arthur. I am a History DPhil Candidate at the University of Oxford and a Research Analyst at the Ditchley Foundation.
Research
My PhD is a transnational history of the Dniester River – the border between Soviet Ukraine and Romanian-ruled Bessarabia – in the 1920s and 1930s. It examines how border-making transformed everyday life in a Soviet periphery, how peasants illegally crossed the border during famine, and how the secret police responded with new tactics. My research has been generously funded by the Canadian Institute for Ukrainian Studies, the Ukrainian Studies Fund, and the Segal Fund for Jewish and Hebrew Studies.
My contemporary policy research investigates the role of emerging technologies in contemporary geopolitics, among other topics.
In The Media
Psychic Soldiers, Mind Readers, and Dolphin Drones: The Cold War's Weird Paranormal History, Reason Magazine. May 2026.
Don't Give Russia Space, The Kyiv Independent. October 2025.
Putin's AI blunder is a gift to opponents, The Financial Times. April 2025.
Academic publications
'Crossing the River Between Worlds: Soviet Famine, Romanian Antisemitism, and Illegal Migration over the Dniester River in 1932', Contemporary European History (upcoming).
Policy Blog
A Seat At The Table is my blog, where I occasionally share policy insights from an insider perspective.