Economist and political scientist Christopher Blattman is set to present the next Human Progress and Flourishing Workshop, scheduled for Friday, Nov. 18, at 10 a.m. in Beckwith Recital Hall. He will give a virtual seminar drawing from his latest book, “Why We Fight: The Roots of War and the Paths to Peace.”

All members of the NDSU community and the public are invited to attend the free event. After the presentation, food and refreshments are scheduled to be served in the Challey School of Music Atrium. The first 100 attendees will receive a free book.

Virtual attendance is available on Zoom, though you must register.

Blattman is the Ramalee E. Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies at The University of Chicago’s Pearson Institute and Harris Public Policy. He studies violence, crime and underdevelopment.

In “Why We Fight: The Roots of War and the Paths to Peace,” Blattman applies decades of economics, political science, psychology and real-world interventions to lay out the causes and remedies for war. He shows that violence is not the norm, that there are only five reasons why conflict wins over compromise and how peacemakers turn the tides through tinkering, not transformation.

Much of Blattman’s work designs and tests solutions to violence and poverty. He has worked mainly in Colombia, Liberia, Uganda, Ethiopia, Mexico and Chicago. He earned his doctorate in economics from the University of California at Berkeley and a master's degree in public administration and international development from the Harvard Kennedy School.

The Human Progress and Flourishing Workshop, which is hosted by the Challey Institute for Global Innovation and Growth, invites internationally-renowned scholars from universities across the country to present their research and engage with the NDSU community.

The series continues every other Friday through Dec. 2.