Putin, Petro-Agression, and the Future of Energy Geopolitics

The Public Policy Center is proud to support this lecture hosted by the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council (ICFRC). 

The war in Ukraine has sent prices for food and energy spiraling, plunging millions into hunger and threatening energy security across Europe and Asia. But did fuel prices play a role in precipitating the conflict in the first place? In his talk, Dr. Cullen Hendrix will discuss the roles of oil and gas exports and prices in emboldening leaders of petrostates - states that derive significant export and government revenue from oil and gas exports - to behave aggressively in the international arena. The talk will conclude with thoughts about how the global transition to renewable energy systems will shift the locus of geopolitical competition from oil and gas to the critical minerals that will fuel the energy transition - and what can be done to ensure sustainable energy security moving forward. 

Cullen Hendrix is senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, nonresident senior research fellow at the Center for Climate & Security, and a specially appointed research professor with the Network for Education and Research on Peace and Security (NERPS) at Hiroshima University. He is currently on leave from the Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. He is the author of over 30 peer-reviewed articles on the relationships between international markets, natural resources, and conflict, as well as the economic and security implications of climate change. Dr. Hendrix has authored reports published by or consulted for organizations including the Asian Development Bank, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the National Intelligence Council, Oxfam America, USAID, and the World Food Programme, among others. He was also a contributing author to the 2022 IPCC report, for which he assessed the implications of climate change for threats to peace and human mobility.

This event is free and open to the public; attendees must register beforehand.