She studies colonialism, nationalism, conflict and collective action. Her research reflects her expertise in the politics of the Middle East and North Africa. Lawrence’s book, Imperial Rule and the Politics of Nationalism: Anti-Colonial Protest in the French Empire (Cambridge University Press 2013), has received multiple awards, including the 2015 David Greenstone Book Prize, given by the American Political Science Association’s Politics and History Section, the 2015 L. Carl Brown Book Prize, given by the American Institute for Maghrib Studies (AIMS), and the 2014 Jervis-Schroeder Best Book Award, given by the American Political Science Association’s Organized Section on International History and Politics. It was named one of the best books of 2013 on Foreign Policy’s Middle East Channel.