What is the Responsibility to Protect? And What Does it Mean in the Syrian Case?

Michael Walzer, one of America's most influential political theorists, will speak on "What is the Responsibility to Protect? And What Does it Mean in the Syrian Case?" as the 2016 Kenan Distinguished Lecturer.

Walzer is a professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton, New Jersey, and has written about a wide variety of topics in political theory and moral philosophy, including political obligation, just and unjust war, nationalism and ethnicity, economic justice, and the welfare state. He has played a critical role in the revival of a practical, issue-focused ethics and in the development of a pluralist approach to political and moral life. His talk with examine the international moral obligation to intercede in Syria and the international security and human rights norm Responsibility to Protect.

The annual Kenan Distinguished Lecture in Ethics is a signature series of the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke that brings a distinguished speaker to campus to address moral issues of broad social and cultural significance.