The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) is an Australian

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

founded in 1976 which specialises in public policy research. It is based in Sydney and focuses on

classical liberal Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics; civil liberties under the rule of law with especial emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, economic ...

issues such as

free market In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any o ...

s and

limited government In political philosophy, limited government is the concept of a government limited in power. It is a key concept in the history of liberalism.Amy Gutmann, "How Limited Is Liberal Government" in Liberalism Without Illusions: Essays on Liberal Theo ...

. The CIS is funded solely by donations, membership subscriptions, and book and event sales from individuals, companies and charitable trusts. It does not accept government funding. All research decisions are made by the research team and not by the donors.

Philosophy

The CIS describes itself as a "classical liberal think tank." The CIS measures its performance by monitoring and analysing the output of research papers, events, presentations, opinion pieces and media mentions, changes in the policy environment, website page views and financial support. CIS is affiliated with the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

-based

Atlas Network Atlas Network, formerly known as the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, is a non-governmental 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States that provides training, networking and grants for libertarian, free-market, and conservative groups ...

, which advocates free market economic policies across the world.

Research programs

The CIS has research programs on: * Education * Economic policy (tax policy, infrastructure, workplace reform, government spending) * Culture, prosperity and civil society * Indigenous affairs * China and free societies Most policy research focuses upon the role of the free market in an

open society Open society (french: société ouverte) is a term coined by French philosopher Henri Bergson in 1932, and describes a dynamic system inclined to moral universalism.Thomas Mautner (2005), 2nd ed. ''The Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy'' Open so ...

, and how voluntary processes could be used to provide many of the goods and services normally supplied by the compulsory methods of government.

Individual liberty Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties may ...

and choice, including

freedom of association Freedom of association encompasses both an individual's right to join or leave groups voluntarily, the right of the group to take collective action to pursue the interests of its members, and the right of an association to accept or decline membe ...

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

speech Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses Phonetics, phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if ...

and the

right to property The right to property, or the right to own property (cf. ownership) is often classified as a human right for natural persons regarding their possessions. A general recognition of a right to private property is found more rarely and is typically h ...

are also common themes. A report dated 2 November 2016 on Australia’s health system by CIS stated “government restrictions, regulations, and other barriers to entry within the health care and medical insurance industries cripple ompetition�� and proposed setting up of “Health Innovation Communities”. A June 2018 CIS report found that the overwhelming majority of Australian “

millennials Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the Western demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000 ...

” (defined as those born between 1980 and 1996) have a favourable view of socialism. The report was described as "a worried warning to Australia’s ruling elite of a political radicalisation among young people and the threat that it poses to the capitalist system."

Media

CIS researchers regularly comment in opinion pieces in Australian newspapers, online, on radio and on TV, with content mirrored on their YouTube channel. The CIS also has a weekly newsletter ''ideas@thecentre'' and a weekly livestream interview show ''On Liberty''.

Staff

Tom Switzer
has been executive director of CIS since 2018, succeeding founder

Greg Lindsay Gregory John Lindsay Order of Australia, AO (b. 1949) was until 2018 the Executive Director of the Australian think tank the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS), which he founded in 1976 when a young mathematics teacher in the western suburbs of ...

who had held the position for 42 years. In February 2019, Nicholas Moore was appointed Chairman of the CIS board succeeding Peter Mason. Notable individuals in the CIS research staff include:
Simon Cowan
research director and senior research fellow
Greg Lindsay
senior fellow
Steven Schwartz
senior fellow
Peter Kurti
director of Culture, Prosperity & Civil Society Program
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price
director of Indigenous Program
Robert Carling
senior fellow in economics *

Salvatore Babones Salvatore Babones (born October 5, 1969) is an American sociologist, and an associate professor at the University of Sydney. Biography He received PhD from Johns Hopkins University in 2003. From 2003 to 2008 he has been a professor of sociology ...

, adjunct scholar
Blaise Joseph
research fellow in Education Program

References

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External links

The Centre for Independent Studies

Liberty and Society Conference
Think tanks based in Australia Libertarianism in Australia Political advocacy groups in Australia Libertarian think tanks Think tanks established in 1976 1976 establishments in Australia Political and economic think tanks based in Australia