Dr. Sami E. Baroudi is a professor of political science and international affairs in the Department of Political and International Studies (POLIS). He received his PhD in Political Science from Indiana University in 1992. He played a major role in launching the MA in International Affairs Program at LAU and in the periodic revisions of the BA and MA programs in Political Science/International Affairs.

Between October 2001 and September 2005, Dr. Baroudi served as chairperson of the then department of Education and Social Sciences in Beirut. In fall 2003, he was a visiting associate professor at Villanova University, Pennsylvania, USA. In October 2005, he was appointed Assistant Provost for Faculty Affairs (APFA), a position he held until October 2013. During the 2013-2014 academic year, he served as the interim chair of the then Department of Communication Arts. Between October 2014 and August 2016, he was an assistant dean in the School of Arts and Sciences; he returned to this post in September 2024.

Dr. Baroudi had published extensively on the political economy of the Middle East, particularly Egypt and Lebanon and on sectarian relations in Lebanon. His current research agenda focuses on political Islam, especially the ideologies of radical Islamist movements and the views of mainstream Islamists on international relations. Baroudi is a member of the International Studies Association and the Middle East Studies Association. He teaches a range of undergraduate and graduate courses on International Political Economy, Foreign Policy Analysis, Theories of International Relations, and Islam in International Relations.

Research Interests

Dr. Baroudi has published extensively on the political economy of the Middle East, particularly Egypt and Lebanon and on sectarian relations in Lebanon. His current research agenda focuses on political Islam, especially the ideologies of radical Islamist movements and the views of mainstream Islamists on international relations. Baroudi is a member of the International Studies Association and the Middle East Studies Association.

SDGs Research Mapping

Dr. Latifa Reda conducts research relevant to the following SDGs:

Courses Taught

He teaches a range of undergraduate and graduate courses on International Political Economy, Foreign Policy Analysis and Theories of International Relations.

He enjoys traveling and reading philosophical works and biographies of world leaders.

Publications

Books

• Contemporary Islamist Perspectives on International Relations: Mainstream Voices from the Sunni and Shii Arab World, New York: Peter Lang Pub Inc., March 9, 2022. https://www.peterlang.com/document/1159558

Selected articles in journals

• “Elite labor mobility: examining the migration of Lebanese youth to the United Arab Emirates and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” Teya Fadwa Abou Zour, Jasmin Lilian Diab, Joseph P Helou, Sami E Baroudi. Cogent Social Sciences , Volume 11, 2025 - Issue 1. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311886.2025.2585567.
• “Gender hierarchies in reporting genocide: an analysis of the dehumanization of Palestinian men in Western media”. Noura El Masry , Zina Sawaf , Gretchen King , Sami Baroudi. Communication, Culture and Critique, Volume 18, Issue 4, December 2025, Pages 310–321, https://doi.org/10.1093/ccc/tcaf032.
• “Arab intellectuals, ISIS, and the West” Third World Quarterly, Vol. 46, Issue 6, 2025, pp. 268-244. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2025.2500575.
• “Ideas that travel: the influence of Abu al-A ‘la al-Mawdudi on the political thought of two contemporary Arab Islamists: Yusuf al-Qaradawi and Sayyid Qutb” Politics, Religion, & Ideology, Vol. 24, Issue 3. https://doi.org/10.1080/21567689.2023.2277460.
• Contemporary islamist perspectives on international relations: mainstream voices from the Sunni and Shii Arab World, New York: Peter Lang, 2022.
• “On Origins: Arab Intellectuals’ Debates on the Ideational Sources of ISIS”, Middle East Journal, Vol. 74, NO. 2, SUMMER 2020, pp. 220-242, HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.3751/74.2.13.
• “The problematic notion of the ‘Islamic state’ in the discourses of contemporary Islamists: the case of Sheikh Muhammad Abu Zahra (1898–1974)” Middle Eastern Studies, Volume 56, 2020 - Issue 3. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00263206.2019.1704269.
• “Hannah Arendt, the human condition and the embrace of human diversity in the discourses of two contemporary Islamists: Sheikh Muhammad Abu Zahra (1898–1974) and Sheikh Wahbah al-Zuhaili (1932–2015)”, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/13530194.2019.1699775.
• “Sheikh Muhammad Abu Zahra (1898-1974) on International Relations: The Discourse of a Contemporary Mainstream Islamist”, Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 54, No. 3, 415–441, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1080/00263206.2018.1434147. 
• “Sheikh Wahbah Al-Zuhaili on International Relations: The Discourse of a Prominent Islamist Scholar (1932-2015)”, Sami E. Baroudi (first author With Vahid Behmardi, Middle Eastern Studies, VOL. 53, NO. 3, 363–385, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00263206.2016.1263190.

Academic Degrees

• PhD in Political Science, 1991, Indiana University-Bloomington, USA
• MA in Political Studies, 1984, American University of Beirut, Lebanon
• BA in Economics, 1981, American University of Beirut, Lebanon