Joseph W. Roberts
Areas of Expertise
Comparative Politics, Middle Eastern Politics, International Relations, Transnational Social Movements, Computer-Mediated Political Communications, University CoreEducation
Ph.D. (2006), Political Science, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
M.A (1994), Middle East Studies - Political Science, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
B.A (1991), Diplomatic History and International Relations: Southwest Asian and Islamic Civilizations, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee
Joseph W. Roberts is the Chair of DPIR and is a Professor of Politics and International Relations and a 2010 Presidential Fellow at Roger Williams University in 91, Rhode Island. Dr. Roberts received an NEH Fellowship to study Islam in Asia through the East-West Center in Hawaii in 2017. He was an inaugural Alwaleed Fellow for Oman for the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations (2015-2016). He was also a member of the 91 Fulbright-Hayes Egypt Fellowship in July 2011. He edited the Journal of Political Science Education (JPSE), one of the four flagship journals of the American Political Science Association (APSA)., from 2016-2022. He is the current Chair of Political Science Education section of APSA and the inaugural President of the Education and Learning in International Affairs Section (ELIAS) of the International Studies Association (ISA).
Dr. Roberts book, How the Internet is Changing the Practice of Politics in the Middle East: Political Protest, New Social Movements, and Electronic Samizdat, was published in 2009 from Edwin Mellen Press. He has published in European Political Science and has several pieces in PS: Political Science and Politics on internationalizing the curriculum in political science and conflict and conflict resolution. He has also published in Periodica Islamica. He is currently completing comparative politics textbook with two colleagues (Cambridge University Press, tentatively 2024).
- POLSC 120: Introduction to Comparative Politics
- POLSC 210: Introduction to International Relations
- POLSC 310: Pop Culture and Advanced IR Theory
- POLSC 321: Politics of Ethnic Conflict
- POLSC 327: Politics of the Middle East
- POLSC 344: US and the Middle East
- POLSC 390: Globalization and its Critics
- POLSC 397: Playing Games with Politics
- POLSC 442: Senior Research Seminar (IR/Comparative)
- CORE 102: Structures of Power
- CORE 450: Are We of It or Against It? People and the Planet in the 21st Century
"Rapidly Moving Online in a Pandemic: Intentionality, Rapport, and the Synchronous/Asynchronous Delivery Decision," PS: Political Science and Politics 54, No. 1 (January 2021): 183-185. DOI:
“Are U.S. Sanctions Justifiable: The Case of Iran?” ABC-CLIO
“Internationalizing the Curriculum: Assessing Faculty, Departments, and Schools on their Efforts,” European Political Science (25 September 2015) doi:10.1057/eps.2015.40
“Conflict and Conflict Resolution” PS: Political Science and Politics 48, No. 3 (July 2015).
“What States Need to Foster Innovation and Economic Growth,” The Collaborative Rhode Island (June 2015).
“Strategies for a Competitive Rhode Island: Assessing Innovation Potential with Emphasis on Energy and Ease of Doing Business” The Collaborative Rhode Island (March 2015). [with Suchandra Basu and Ramesh Mohan].
“Conflict and Conflict Resolution” PS: Political Science and Politics 46, No. 3 (July 2013). [with Agnieszka Paczynska and Daniel Wehrenfennig].
“Internationalizing the Curriculum,” PS: Political Science and Politics 45, No. 3 (July 2012). [with Mark Sachleben and Deborah Ward].
“Internationalizing the Curriculum,” PS: Political Science & Politics 42, No. 3 (July 2009). [with Rachel Ellett and David Kiwuwa]