Yasir Zaidan — Adjunct ; Adjunct, Political Science ; Department of Political Science , College of Humanities, Education & Social Sciences ; Areas of Expertise: Foreign Policy & IR | Middle East | Red Sea & Horn of Africa .

Yasir Zaidan is an Adjunct Instructor in the Department of Political Science at Seattle University. He holds a Ph.D. in International Studies from the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. His research examines the expanding influence of Gulf states in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea, focusing on how ports, infrastructure investment, and security partnerships reshape sovereignty and regional politics. His dissertation, “Contested Waterfronts: Port Imperialism and Insecurity in the Red Sea,” draws on research in Sudan, Djibouti, and Jordan.

Zaidan’s scholarship is informed by professional experience in East Africa and the Middle East. Before his doctoral studies, he served as a part-time lecturer at the National University–Sudan and as a research assistant at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He holds a Master of Arts in Statecraft and National Security Affairs from the Institute of World Politics in Washington, D.C., specializing in comparative national security systems, and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Khartoum.

His work has appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, World Politics Review, African Arguments, and Small Wars & Insurgencies.