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.

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 System Board of Regents, 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 Immigration Agenda and the Constitution

The Trump administration may be able to resort to new, untried legal tactics to overcome resistance.

John Yoo, Robert Delahunty
Constitutionalism
Jan 31, 2025

Trudeau's Failure and Canada's Renewal

The idea of Canada will be refashioned on Tory terms.

Geoffrey Sigalet
Politics
Jan 30, 2025

The Path Dependency of American Health Care

Health care policies promote the chance to acquire winning lottery tickets, offering greater health care services and product availability (subsidized by third parties) rather than better assurances of those resources being delivered and used more productively.

Thomas Miller
Economic Dynamism
Jan 29, 2025

The Case Against Birthright Citizenship

No one at the time or now has advanced a coherent explanation as to why birthright citizenship is desirable as a matter of principle.

Richard Epstein
Constitutionalism
Jan 28, 2025

The Arrival of Legal Traditionalism

With a clearer view of what justifies its traditionalist intuitions, the Court has an opportunity to right many residual wrongs from its past misadventures.

Tal Fortgang
Constitutionalism
Jan 28, 2025
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