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• Culture, Prosperity & Civil Society

This program defends and promotes the traditional values and principles of a free and liberal democratic society and open economy in Australia.

In a related area of research we investigate the place of religion in society.

Lessons from the Freiburg School: The Institutional Foundations of Freedom and Prosperity
Wolfgang KasperJuly 1, 1993OP44

West Germany’s post-war economic success was based on the ideas of the ‘Freiburg School,’ a...

Multicultural Citizens: The Philosophy and Politics of Identity
Chandran KukathasApril 1, 1993R9

This volume of essays has its origin in a conference on multiculturalism sponsored by the...

Restoring the true republic
Geoffrey de Quincey Walker, Suri Ratnapala, Wolfgang KasperFebruary 26, 1993PF10
Marriage, Divorce and Family Justice
Barry MaleyJanuary 1, 1993PM25

Family Law in Australia fails to acknowledge and support the institutional character of marriage as...

Welfare State and the Problem of the Common
David ThomsonDecember 20, 1992OP43

Modern welfare states involve large –scale pooling of risks and resources by peoples of different...

How Much Justice does a Society Need?
Kenneth MinogueNovember 15, 1992OP40

Hard-headed people often say that perfect justice is impossible, merely a dream. the philosopher Kant...

The Moral Sense: An Essay
James Q. WilsonAugust 1, 1994OP50

What are the sources of moral order? This is an important question when violence, dishonesty,...

Literature and Freedom
Mario Vargas LlosaFebruary 1, 1994OP48

In this CIS Occasional Paper, Mario Vargas Llosa highlights the mutually beneficial relationship between literature...

Private Welfare
James CoxNovember 16, 1993PM22

When we speak of welfare, we usually have in mind the benefits dispensed by the...

Questions of Conquest and Culture
Mario Vargas LlosaSeptember 9, 1993OP47

In the tenth John Bonython Lecture, the Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa reflects on mestizaje,...

Economics, Faith and Moral Responsibility
Robert SiricoAugust 1, 1993OP46

In this CIS Occasional Paper, Robert Sirico defends the institutions of the free and open...

Another Look at the Culture Cringe
L.J. HulmeJuly 7, 1993OP45

The notion of the Australian cultural cringe is one of the myths that undermine the...

Back the plan and save Australia from hatred
Peter KurtiJuly 14, 2025DAILY TELEGRAPH
Our Jewish neighbours, colleagues and friends are facing harassment, threats and exclusion in ways this...
Lattouf judgment evidence of an ABC that has badly lost its way
Tom SwitzerJune 26, 2025DAILY TELEGRAPH

The Federal Court’s judgment in favour of journalist Antoinette Lattouf represents not just humiliation for...

When hatred finds a home in our institutions
Peter KurtiJune 12, 2025SPECTATOR

I recently watched the documentary October 8, a searing and distressing film about the aftermath...

When it feels like Australia is falling apart, hard truths can bring us back
Peter KurtiJune 12, 2025DAILY TELEGRAPH

Faced with violent protests, rising antisemitism and growing cultural division, Australians are entitled to ask...

Why hope still matters in a divided world
Peter KurtiApril 17, 2025AFR

Hope is easily dismissed as illusory when the grounds for holding fast to it appear...

Identity politics, enclaves, undermine common values
Peter KurtiMarch 12, 2025DAILY TELEGRAPH

Hastily-convened citizenship ceremonies around the nation raised suspicions that the federal government was trying to...

Australia’s Hate Speech Failure | Dimitri Burshtein
Dimitri BurshteinMarch 31, 2026

The tragic events at Bondi Beach on 14 December 2025 expose a deepening crisis in...

Angus Taylor at CIS: Economic Reform, Immigration, and Australia’s Cost of Living Crisis
Angus Taylor, Michael StutchburyFebruary 19, 2026

Speaking at his first address outside Canberra since being elected Leader of the Opposition by...

Education Reform in Australia | Jennifer Buckingham
Robert Forsyth, Jennifer Buckingham OAMFebruary 17, 2026

Join us on Liberalism in Question for an enlightening discussion with Dr. Jennifer Buckingham, former...

Australia’s Liberal Odyssey: Tracing Freedom’s Path
Robert Forsyth, Greg MelleuishFebruary 10, 2026

In this thought-provoking episode of Liberalism in Question, we delve into the rich tapestry of...

Our Civic Compact is Shattered
Peter KurtiFebruary 10, 2026

Explosive 316% Jump in Antisemitic Attacks: Could This Be the End of Australia’s Harmony? Dive...

Reflecting Back: John Howard and Alexander Downer on Power, Alliances and Australia
John Howard OM AC, Alexander DownerFebruary 6, 2026

Alexander Downer and former Prime Minister John Howard join author Tony Parkinson and CIS Executive...

Submission to the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor (INSLM)
Peter KurtiSeptember 25, 2025

Submission to the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor (INSLM) Review of the definition of a...

Submission to the Senate Inquiry on Information Integrity
Michael StutchburySeptember 12, 2025

On behalf of the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS), we are pleased to provide the...

Submission to the Senate Economics References Committee Inquiry into Personal Choice and Community Impacts 2015
August 11, 2015

The CIS submission into the Senate Economics References Committee Inquiry proposed two tightly targeted areas...

Submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee on the value of a justice reinvestment approach to criminal justice in Australia
Sara HudsonNovember 17, 2013

To address the underlying causes of Indigenous offending, we need to focus on education and...

Submission to Native Title Leading Practice Agreements Discussion Paper 2010
Helen Hughes, Mark Hughes, Sara HudsonNovember 30, 2010

The Native Title process is only one of the processes returning land to traditional owners....

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