Ideas for
Prosperity
Tomorrow’s leaders need better, bolder ideas about how to make our society freer and more prosperous. That’s why the Civitas Institute exists, plain and simple.
Through research, commentary, and public outreach, we explore all aspects of a free and vibrant society, including economic dynamism, individual flourishing, civic virtue, and constitutionalism.
The Civitas Institute is part of the University of Texas at Austin.
Independent thought, civil discourse, free speech, reasoned deliberation and intellectual curiosity are central to our ethos.
The Civitas Institute takes its name from The University of Texas at Austin motto, Disciplina Praesidium Civitatis, a condensed Latin rendering of Mirabeau Lamar’s famous statement that a “cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy.”
This origin reflects both the university’s institutional heritage and the Institute’s interest in the link between knowledge and liberty.
Our history
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Our team
We are dedicated to exploring the ideas and institutions that create flourishing societies.
The Moral Case for America in a Nutshell
America’s proponents now have no choice but to articulate their own simple and effective moral case for our way of life.
Kneecapping Powell, Undermining the Rule of Law
Donald Trump and conservatives know the perils of lawfare all too well. Why subject Jerome Powell to the same thing?
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Limiting the Federal Government
Failure to consider the sponsors’ representations of the Constitution’s meaning seriously impairs the quality of interpretation.
