Program on Global Justice Director Joshua Cohen delivered the prestigious Tanner Lectures on Human Values at the University of California at Berkeley from April 10 to April 12, 2007. In his lectures on "Power, Reason, and Politics," Cohen discussed the role of public reason in a democratic society and global political society. Commentators included Charles Larmore, Elizabeth S. Anderson, and Avishai Margalit.

The Tanner Lectures are a multi-university scholarly lecture series presented annually at nine universities including Cambridge, Harvard, Michigan, Oxford, Princeton, Stanford, Utah, Yale, and the University of California at Berkeley. Tanner lecturers are recognized for "uncommon achievement and outstanding abilities in the field of human values."

Joshua Cohen is a renowned political theorist trained in philosophy. He specializes in democratic theory and its implications for personal liberty, freedom of expression, electoral finance, and new forms of democratic participation. Cohen is currently working on questions of global justice, including the foundations of human rights, distributive fairness, and supra-national democratic governance. He is the director of the Program on Global Justice and professor of political science, philosophy, and law at Stanford University.