Barbu was the Dean of the Political Science Department of the University of Bucharest from 1994 to 2000, and then again from 2002 to 2004.
Barbu has specialized in the Comparative History of European Civilizations, Political Science and Comparative Political Science, Social and Political Models of the State, Minorities and Confessional Groups in Romania, Constitutions, Government, and Politics in Europe, Totalitarian Regimes, Communisme et Socialisme d'État, and Political Anthropology.