Publications

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Our publications are the most important means of contact between the Centre's ideas and its general readership. Since 1976, The Centre for Independent Studies has produced some of the most authoritative publications in Australasian academia. From the influential Lands of Shame to the authoritative Will China Fail? CIS has published hundreds of publications covering topics from the social policy to legal affairs to religion and education.

In addition to books, the CIS publishes a range of shorter publications: Issue Analyses deal with controversial and current issues and Policy Mongraphs investigate and offer policy solutions. Since 1984, Policy magazine has published feature articles and reviews authored by some of the foremost national and international thinkers on public policy and ideas. The quality of writing and the diversity of topics in Policy ensure its status as a 'must read' by leading politicans, businesspeople and academics.

Hard copies of our publications are available for purchase through the bookstore. Many of the smaller publications are also available for download.

CONTRIBUTIONS

If you would like to write for The Centre for Independent Studies, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with 'writing for CIS' in the subject field. We ask that you contact us for approval before writing a piece for the Centre's publications. The Centre retains the right to edit any accepted article upon submission. The Centre would like to stress that the views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Centre's staff, advisers, directors or officers.

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All Civil Liberties Publications

  • FEATURE: The Battlelines of Interpretation in Racial Vilification Laws

    Darryn Jensen | 20 Aug 2011 | POLICY Magazine

    Racial vilification law ensnares courts in political disputes.

  • Alcohol Policy and the Politics of Moral Panic

    Luke Malpass | 26 May 2011 | Policy Monographs

    New Zealand’s proposed liquor legislation marks a return to old attitudes towards alcohol regulation that perversely believe,...

  • Behind the Moral Curtain: The Politics of a Charter of Rights

    Elise Parham | 01 Feb 2010 | Policy Monographs

    Elise Parham argues that a federal charter of rights would be used by special interest groups as a powerful political tool....

  • BOOK REVIEW:The Henson Case

    Benjamin Hourigan | 03 Mar 2009 | POLICY Magazine

    The Henson Case by David Marr (Text Publishing, 2008).

  • BOOK REVIEW: What Price Security? Taking Stock of Australia's Anti-Terror Laws

    Greg Roebuck | 03 Mar 2007 | POLICY Magazine

    What Price Security? Taking Stock of Australia's Anti-Terror Laws by Andrew Lynch and George Williams (UNSW Press, 2006).

  • The Long Eye of the Law Closed Circuit Television, Crime Prevention and Civil Liberties

    Caspar Conde | 14 Apr 2004 | Issue Analysis

    The NSW Law Reform Commission is considering a proposal that all CCTV surveillance camera footage older than 21 days should...

  • COMMENT: Can We Preserve Liberty in an Age of Terrorism? Two Perspectives

    John Humphreys, Nicholas Southwood | 03 Mar 2004 | POLICY Magazine

    Security is essential for the enjoyment of freedom in a liberal society, but this does not mean that we should accept security...

  • COMMENT: Can a Liberal Society Tolerate Illiberal Elements?

    Chandran Kukathas | 06 Jun 2001 | POLICY Magazine

    Interpretation of the libertarian first principle- a belief in individual freedom- presents a difficult philosophical choice...

  • BOOK REVIEW: The Problematics of Moral and Legal Theory

    Jeffrey Lawrence | 03 Mar 2000 | POLICY Magazine

    The Problematics of Moral and Legal Theory by Richard Posner (Belknap Press, 1999.)

  • COMMENT: Polycentric Law in a New Century

    Tom Bell | 03 Mar 1999 | POLICY Magazine

    The feasibility of privately produced law.

  • FEATURE: Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value?

    Helen Hughes AO 1928 - 2013 | 09 Sep 1998 | POLICY Magazine

    Moving toward, or away from, wage justice for women?

  • BOOKNOTES: On the Relevance of Metaethics

    Charles Richardson | 06 Jun 1998 | POLICY Magazine

    On the Origin of MetaEthics edited by Jocelyne Couture and Kai Nielsen (University of Calgary Press, 1997.)

  • FEATURE: The Moral Habit

    Andrew Norton | 09 Sep 1997 | POLICY Magazine

    An interview with James Q. Wilson.

  • BOOK NOTES: When Strangers Cooperate: Using Social Conventions to Govern Ourselves

    Andrew Norton | 06 Jun 1997 | POLICY Magazine

    When Strangers Cooperate: Using Social Conventions to Govern Ourselves by David W. Brown (The Free Press, 1996.)

  • FEATURE: The Gestative Propensity of Constitutional Implications

    Nicholas Aroney | 03 Mar 1997 | POLICY Magazine

    "Was there something wrong with the implication of reedom of political communication in the first place? In my respectful...

  • FEATURE: Politically Impossible?

    Nigel Ashford | 03 Mar 1997 | POLICY Magazine

    How ideas, not interests and circumstances, determine public policy.

  • FEATURE: Threats to Freedom: Then and Now

    Greg Lindsay | 03 Mar 1997 | POLICY Magazine

    The Mont Pelerin Society after 50 years.

  • BOOK REVIEW: Civilizing Cyberspace: Policy Power, and the Information Superhighway

    Danny Yee | 03 Mar 1996 | POLICY Magazine

    Civilizing Cyberspace: Policy Power, and the Information Superhighway by Steven E. Miller (Addison-Wesley/ACM Publishing,...

  • FEATURE: Racist Speech and Freedom of Speech

    Gabriel A. Moens, John Trone | 12 Dec 1994 | POLICY Magazine

    The illiberal effects of racial vilification laws.

  • FEATURE: The New World Order and the 'Right to Intervene'

    Gary Klintworth | 12 Dec 1991 | POLICY Magazine

    The establishment by the UN of a safe haven for the Kurds in Northern Iraq illustrates the emergence of a new doctrine in...