The Donia Human Rights Center, housed in the International Institute at the University of Michigan, brings Leif Wenar to campus as part of its Distinguished Lecture Series: a prestigious venue for renowned scholars and practitioners who have made significant contributions to the advancement of human rights in the world.

His lecture “Blood Oil: Tyrants, Violence, and the Rules that Run the World,” takes place Monday, September 10, at 4:00 pm on the 10th floor of Weiser Hall, 500 Church Street, Ann Arbor. A book signing follows at 5:30 pm; his latest book Blood Oil: Tyrants, Violence, and the Rules that Run the World will be available for purchase. Both events are free and open to the public.

Wenar’s lecture will explore the root causes of major foreign threats and crises to developed democracies in the last several decades—the Soviet Union, Iran, Iraq, Al Qaeda, ISIS, Syria, and Russia—identifying oil and other scarce natural resources as the central sources of unaccountable power in the world that enable military aggressions and systematic human rights violations. To end this vicious cycle, Wenar argues, we need to establish new global rules that would change corporate practices and consumer behavior.

Leif Wenar is the chair of philosophy and law at King’s College, London. He studied with John Rawls, Robert Nozick, and T.M. Scanlon while at Harvard University. In addition to Blood Oil, he is the author of Beyond Blood: Philosophy, Policy, and the Future. His work has been featured in numerous venues, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, CNN, and the BBC.

This event is co-sponsored by: African Studies Center, Department of Afroamerican and African Studies, Department of Anthropology, Department of Philosophy, Department of Political Science, Department of Sociology, and Program in International and Comparative Studies.