Welcome! My name is Shahin (pronounced Shah-heen) and I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Strategy and Policy at the US Naval War College. From September 2024 to September 2025, I was also a nonresident research fellow at the Modern War Institute (MWI) at West Point.

Before arriving at the Naval War College, I was a Postdoctoral Fellow from 2022 to 2023 at the Albritton Center for Grand Strategy (CGS) at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A & M University.  Between 2020 and 2022, I worked at Southern Methodist University where I served as a Visiting Assistant Professor and Colin Powell Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Political Science and the John G. Tower Center for Public Policy and International Affairs. 

I earned my Ph.D and MA in Political Science from the University of California Los Angeles and my B.A. in Political Science from the University of Southern California. My research and teaching interests include, but are not limited to, foreign policy decision-making, diplomacy/diplomatic history, military history, international security, conflict resolution, political psychology, qualitative methods, the Cold War, and the international relations of the Middle East. 

In my research, I examine why, and under what conditions, leaders initiate conciliation in strategic rivalries. Of the many ways decision-makers can extend olive branches, I am particularly interested in studying their motivations for undertaking what I refer to as bold gestures. These are conciliatory acts or statements in which one state offers a major unilateral concession to its adversary that is unprecedented, irreversible, and noncontingent. Why leaders choose to initiate conciliation in such a risky manner when smaller, less radical avenues exist to engage adversaries is puzzling and has important implications for our understanding of decision-making, diplomatic signaling, and trust building. I argue that the ability of leaders to empathize, or take the perspective of others, explains how they choose to accommodate their rivals. My research has been published in such academic journals as International Security and Security Studies and my book reviews and commentary have been featured with Small Wars and Insurgencies, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the Modern War Institute, the National Interest, and E-International Relations.

I have completed TV and radio interviews for NBC10 WJAR, the BBC, BBC Bangla, and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Additionally, I have been quoted in digital and print articles published by NBC News, Newsweek, Clarin, El Mercurio, and other media outlets. I am available for interviews, commentaries, and pubic speaking engagements, so please feel free to get in touch.