UToledo’s 2026 David Davis Lecture Explores Oil, Power and Petrostates

UToledo's 2026 David Davis Lecture Explores Oil, Power and Petrostates

The University of Toledo's Department of Political Science and Public Administration will host the 2026 David Davis Lecture on Tuesday, March 10, with a dinner at 5:30 p.m. and the lecture beginning at 6 p.m. in Thompson Student Union Room 2582.

This year's speaker, Dr. Emma Ashford, Senior Fellow at the Stimson Center, will present "Oil and Geopolitics: From Petrostate to Conflict," drawing on insights from her book, "Oil, the State, and War: The Foreign Policies of Petrostates."

Ashford's talk will examine the relationships among oil wealth, state behavior and global power dynamics, exploring how oil-rich nations are simultaneously shaped by their resource wealth and affected by the world's dependence on it.

She is expected to challenge conventional thinking about the links between energy and international stability, with pointed implications for U.S. foreign policy at a moment of rapid shifts in the global order.

The free, public lecture is presented by the Department of Political Science and Public Administration.

RSVPs are requested via the event's website.

The Davis Lecture Series was established through a generous gift from the late Dr. David H. Davis, a retired professor of political science and public administration at the University of Toledo. The series regularly brings prominent scholars to campus for conversations centered on environmental policy, public administration, foreign policy, and American political institutions.