Yasir Zaidan — Adjunct ; Adjunct, Political Science ; Department of Political Science , College of Arts & 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 is a Ph.D. candidate at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington, where his research examines the expanding influence of Middle Eastern states in the Horn of Africa, with a particular focus on the evolving dynamics shaping port development policies across the Red Sea region.

Zaidan's scholarly interests are informed by extensive professional experience in East Africa and the Middle East. Prior to 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., with a specialization in comparative national security systems, and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Khartoum (2012).

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