Lavie’s research focuses on religion, politics, and media in the modern Middle East. She explores the relationship between state and religion in Egypt, with particular attention to the development of the concept of the civil state (al-dawla al-madaniyya) as a framework for negotiating the role of Islam in governance. Her work also examines political Islam, the Muslim Brotherhood, and transformations in the constitutional status of Islam across Arab countries. Additional areas include media–state relations during and after the Arab Spring and the translation of Israeli texts into Arabic.