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

July 2022
  • Following its formation by the University of Texas, the Civitas Institute launches with Justin Dyer as founding director
July
2022
May 2023
  • Civitas becomes part of UT Austin’s newly established School of Civic Leadership
May
2023
September 2023
  • Ryan Streeter joins Civitas as executive director
September
2023
March 2024
  • Following a national search, Justin Dyer becomes dean of the School of Civic Leadership
March
2024
March 2024
  • In partnership with UT Austin’s College of Liberal Arts and the University of Austin (UATX), Civitas hosts Civil Discord, a series of moderated arguments featuring some our nation’s best scholars and writers
March
2024
May 2024
  • Civitas hosts The Austin Symposium, a gathering of top scholars interested in increasing dynamism in America and reversing stagnation wherever it is found
May
2024
December 2024
  • Civitas launches its online magazine, titled Civitas Outlook, and begins publishing commentary for a general readership
December
2024
Our team

We are dedicated to exploring the ideas and institutions that create flourishing societies.

Meet the team
The latest from

Civitas Outlook

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Trump's Jeffersonian Foreign Policy

The Constitution creates a presidency that can respond forcefully to prevent serious threats to our national security.

Constitutionalism
Feb 2, 2026

Twenty Years of Justice Alito

The nation is lucky to have Justice Alito. 

Aaron L. Nielson
Constitutionalism
Jan 30, 2026

How FDR’s Bold Experimentation Blinkered the American Economy

Overall, False Dawn is a disciplined, evidence-heavy challenge to the New Deal’s most self-flattering myth: that bold experimentation rescued the American economy.

Michael Munger
Politics
Jan 30, 2026

ICE and the Fourth Amendment

The agency needs judicial oversight, not so-called administrative warrants.

Richard Epstein
Constitutionalism
Jan 29, 2026

California’s Proposed Billionaire Tax and Its Portents for Normal People

The deeper significance of California's billionaire tax is in how it redefines what it means to own property in the United States.

Julia R. Cartwright, Paul Mueller
Economic Dynamism
Jan 29, 2026
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