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 School of Civic Leadership at 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 Failed Lower Court Revolt
As Justice Gorsuch explained, “Lower court judges may sometimes disagree with this Court’s decisions, but they are never free to defy them.”
Not-So-Beautiful Losers: How Conservatism Won the Cold War – and Lost the Peace
Buchanan's populism, unlike Reagan's appeals, wasn't anchored in the spiritual realities at the heart of the American Founding. Much of the same is evident in Buchanan's latter-day disciples.
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What Evil Can and Cannot Teach Us
Reading Andrew Klavan's "The Kingdom of Cain," a meditation on how we learn about love and creation from evil.
