Occasional Papers
Occasional Papers (OP) are short publications usually based on a lecture or presentation given at the CIS. Our annual John Bonython and Acton Lectures are part of the OP series.
Categories
Leadership, Liberty and the Crisis of Authority
In the 27th John Bonython Lecture, Frank Furedi discussed the distinct lack of leadership needed to deal with the many crises facing the world in the 21st century and replace the society’s addiction... Read More
Invisible Hand versus Visible Fist: Securing the Future Wealth of Nations
In the 25th John Bonython Lecture, PJ O'Rourke presents his views of the economic and financial crisis that is shaking the world. PJ O'Rourke's answer to a decline in the value of speculative assets?... Read More
Neoliberalism: The Genesis of a Political Swearword
Neoliberalism is one of the most commonly used words in political debates. Despite this, the origins of neoliberalism are hardly known. Nor does there appear to be a generally accepted definition of... Read More
The Role of Government in a Liberal Society
Modern government has grown out of all proportion, becoming a serious threat to life, liberty, property and the public interest. Read More
Adam Smith - A Primer
Despite his fame, there is still widespread ignorance about the breadth of Adam Smith's contrinbutions to economics, politics and philosophy. In Adam Smith - A Primer Eamonn Butler provides an authoritative... Read More
In Praise of Elitism
Australian society is frequently characterised as egalitarian: belief in a 'fair go' for all and a love for cutting down tall poppies are canonical elements of the national character. Does our distrust... Read More
History as the Story of Liberty: A Globalised Western Civilisation
In this lecture, Dr Herman explores how a prosperous and culturally diverse world depends on the human freedoms embedded in a globalised Western civilisation. Read More
Farewell to Liberty, Equality and Fraternity: Is the Left still on the Left?
In this Occasional Paper translated by Wolfgang Kasper, two German analysts, Dirk Maxeiner and Michael Miersch argue that the Left's classical aspirations have long been realised in all mature welfare... Read More
Sensory Order and Economic Order: The links between human cognition and economic freedom in Hayek's thought.
In this paper, Julie Novak illustrates the connection between The Sensory Order and Hayek's economic thought. His psychological theories were profound in understanding how human beings acquire and communicate... Read More
The Wealth of Generations:Capitalism and the Belief in the Future
In this John Bonython Lecture, with optimism and humour, Johan Norberg looks forward to a future which can only improve with greater freedom, increased knowledge, wealth and technology on our side. Read More
Rendering Unto Caesar: New Challenges for Church and State
In considering contemporary church-state relations, Gregg argues that religious communities need to reassess their role, and suggests that the future focus of faith communities in pluralist societies should... Read More
The Social Foundations of a Free Society
A look at five main areas where current trends may be eroding the free society - family life, schooling, community relations, the welfare state, and the values, norms and beliefs that comprise our common... Read More
Economics & Ethics: The Dispute and the Dialogue
The relationship between economists and religious thinkers is often acrimonious. In this Occasional Paper, an economist Professor Ian Harper and a theologian Dr Samuel Gregg examine some of the causes... Read More
Principles for a Free Society
The need for a principled reconciliation between the prerogatives of individual liberty and social order has been a central preoccupation of classical liberal philosophy. Professor Richard Epstein of the... Read More
Religion and Liberty: Western Experiences, Asian Possibilities
In this CIS Occasional Paper, Samuel Gregg examines religion and its effects upon liberty in the West, before speculating on what such experiences suggest about religion’s potential impact upon the growth... Read More
Catholicism and the Architecture of Freedom
The nature of freedom is a question that has puzzled western societies from their very beginnings. In the Centre for Independent Studies’ inaugural Acton Lecture on Religion and Freedom, George Pell... Read More
The Modern Mask of Socialism
After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War, many people assumed that socialism was dead and that liberal democratic capitalism was to be the unchallenged way of the future. Now, however,... Read More
Nationality
Is the nation state the best form of political organisation? Should a country’s borders be based on racial or linguistic lines? Does the presence of ethnic diversity strengthen a community, or weaken... Read More
The Morality of Capitalism
Capitalism is winning the economic battle all over the world. The collapse of socialism has left it without serious challenge as a wealth-creating system. But moral criticism of capitalism continues. Even... Read More
Markets, Morals and Community
Few people today doubt the market’s contribution to prosperity, but still there are powerful intellectual traditions opposing the market. The market’s current critics fear not so much that it will... Read More
Institutions of innovation and Poverty
Western nations benefit from social institutions that create prosperity and liberty. The separation of the economic and political spheres and the emergence of institutions of private property and markets... Read More
The Social Roots of Prosperity
A society’s prosperity depends on its families. That is the central message of Brigitte Berger’s analysis of economic an and political success. Read More
The Century of Networking
In this John Bonython Lecture, Rupert Murdoch reflects on the coming century of networking. In contrast with pessimistic views of technology taken by writers such as George Orwell, Mr Murdoch sees technology... Read More
The Moral Sense: An Essay
The distinctive feature of The Moral Sense: An Essay is that it uses the findings of modern science and social science to provide extensive evidence that natural human inclinations toward sociability lay... Read More
Literature and Freedom
In this CIS Occasional Paper, Mario Vargas Llosa highlights the mutually beneficial relationship between literature and freedom. Where freedom does not exist, censorship and self-censorship stifle creativity-... Read More
Questions of Conquest and Culture
In the tenth John Bonython Lecture, the Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa reflects on the key question: ‘Can these cultures become modern and overcome oppression while conserving…fundamental elements... Read More
Lessons from the Freiburg School: The Institutional Foundations of Freedom and Prosperity
West Germany’s post-War economic success was based on the ideas of the ‘Freiburg school,’ a school of liberal economists, lawyers and social philosophers centred at Freiburg University. Read More
Why I Am Not a Conservative
Liberals who uphold the idea of a free society in which both economic and civil liberties are respected are often regarded as conservatives. In his essay ‘Why I Am Not a Conservative’, first published... Read More
Freedom, Tradition, Conservatism
This CIS Occasional Paper reproduces an essay of his first published in 1960. In it, Meyer argues that the ‘libertarian’ and the ‘traditionalist’ opponents of socialism (or what he called ‘collectivist... Read More
Dismantling Socialism: A Preliminary Report
In the eighth John Bonython Lecture, Václav Klaus, Finance Minister of Czechoslovakia, gives an account of his government’s attempts to move away from a socialist system towards a free-enterprise system. Read More
The Fraternal Conceit: Individualist versus Collectivist Ideas of Community
In this Occasional Paper, Dr Chandran Kukathas defends the liberal conception of civil association, in which individuals bound by rules of just conduct can peacefully coexist and pursue their private individual... Read More
Socialism Is Dead But Leviathan Lives On
In the seventh John Bonython Lecture, James Buchanan observes that the death of socialism has not been accompanied by the rise of any widespread faith in the free enterprise system, even though that system... Read More
The Egalitarian Conceit: False and True Equalities
Professor Kenneth Minogue traces the roots of modern egalitarianism to the Greek and Christian culture from which Western civilisation springs. Read More
Endangered Freedom
In the fifth John Bonython Lecture, Thomas Sowell argues that public life in Western countries is blighted by an ‘unconstrained vision’ of man and society. This vision treats all social evils as curable:... Read More
The Enemies of Progress
In the third John Bonython Lecture, Ralph Harris recounts the advances that economic freedom and entrepreneurship have brought the world and reminds us that all this good has been an ‘unintended consequence... Read More
Ideas about Freedom: A Discussion
Kenneth R. Minogue and John Gray, in separate essays, examine the history and assumptions behind liberalism and conservatism. They place the two doctrines squarely in the world of toady and recommend more... Read More
The Anti-Capitalist Mentality: Post Mortem for an Ideology
In the Second John Bonython Lecture, Professor R. M. Hartwell traces the history of the anti-capitalist mentality back to myths surrounding the Industrial Revolution in England. Read More
The Role of the Entreprenuer in the Economic System
In the Inaugural John Bonython Lecture, Israel Kirzner strongly defends the entrepreneur's role in keeping our economy healthy and vigorous. Buy download or Buy Hardcopy Read More
Liberty, Justice and the Market
Lauchlan Chipman challenges us not only to reject the notion that there is a conflict between liberty, justice and the market, but to accept the idea that they are mutually supportive. Read More
Social Justice, Socialism and Democracy: Three Australian Lectures
Three lectures on democracy by F.A. Hayek. Read More
