HomeRESEARCH AREASWestern Civilisation

Western Civilisation

Western Civilisation has had a profound influence on world history. Shaped by the cultural contributions of the ancient Greek and Roman Empires and Medieval Christian Europe, the West has produced the seminal events of the Reformation, the Enlightenment, the Industrial and scientific revolutions, and the development of liberal democracy. Here you will find the IPA's research on Western Civilisation and the lessons we can learn from our past to improve our future.

Finance and Economics

Tear Down That Euro

IPA Review Started 9 August 2019 Finance and economics, Government services,

(This article first appeared in the August 2019 edition of the IPA Review). After spending the past half a year watching the Brexit drama unfold, it’s easy to forget another Euro crisis is still...

Freedom of Speech

A Pillar of Strength

IPA Review Started 9 August 2019 Faith and society, Freedom of speech,

This article by Tor Hundloe was published in the August 2019 edition of the IPA Review. I don’t have much in common with Israel Folau, Australia’s best rugby union player. We even disagree which...

Ideas and Liberty

Eaton Alive

Andrew Bushnell Started 9 August 2019 Ideas and liberty, Western civilisation,

This article from the August 2019 IPA Review is by IPA Research Fellow, Andrew Bushnell In its 12-17 April edition, the British political magazine New Statesman published an interview with the...

Ideas and Liberty

As Bad As They Say

Gideon Rozner Started 9 August 2019 Ideas and liberty, Western civilisation,

This article from the August 2019 IPA Review is by Gideon Rozner, IPA’s Director of Policy Yes, Jeremy Corbyn really is that bad. Maybe worse, according to unauthorised biography Dangerous...

PUBLICATIONS

How Chinese Investment Is Challenging Our Academic Freedom

Bella d'Abrera 9 August 2019 Education and skills, Freedom of speech,

Recent scenes of chaos at the University of Queensland as pro- and anti-Hong Kong freedom demonstrators squared off on campus, and reports that the Chinese-based families of anti-communist...

Originally appeared in The Daily Telegraph

Ideas and Liberty

Get Woke Go Broke

Bella d'Abrera Started 5 August 2019 Ideas and liberty, Western civilisation,

This article from the August 2019 IPA Review is by Dr Bella d’Abrera, Director of the IPA’s Foundations of Western Civilisation program: Earlier this year, the marketing team at...

PUBLICATIONS

Folau Has Set A Minefield For Bosses

John Roskam 5 July 2019 Freedom of speech, Ipa today,

Israel Folau versus Rugby Australia is the court case everyone, except our politicians, wants to talk about. The suggestion that it’s merely a contractual dispute that has nothing to do with...

Originally appeared in The Australian Financial Review

PUBLICATIONS

Wentworth Must Stand

Renee Gorman 28 June 2019 Education and skills, Ipa today,

At the University of Sydney we can see what happens when students are no longer taught our history. When the halls of higher learning focus more on identity politics and postmodernist ideas of...

Originally appeared in The Spectator Australia

IPA TODAY

Inquiry Into Press Freedom Must Include Freedom Of Speech For All Australians

Gideon Rozner 12 June 2019 Freedom of speech, Ipa today,

“An inquiry into press freedom must include laws which infringe on the freedom of speech of all Australians, such as Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act,” said Gideon Rozner, Director of...

PUBLICATIONS

Police Raids On ABC And Others Are Disgraceful

Matthew Lesh 7 June 2019 Freedom of speech, Ideas and liberty,

The Australian Federal Police’s raid of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation overnight is a national embarrassment. Yesterday morning, AFP officers arrived at the national broadcaster’s Sydney...

Originally appeared in Spiked

Fathers of Our Constitutional Inheritance

Zachary Gorman 1 June 2019 Western civilisation,

Australia’s successful constitution is a combination of a written document and an unwritten parliamentary system based on custom and precedent imported from Britain. This series documents how that...

PUBLICATIONS

All Australians Are Equal

Daniel Wild 29 May 2019 Constitution and law, Ideas and liberty,

“The Morrison government must not hold a referendum which would ask Australians to divide themselves by race”, said Daniel Wild, Director of Research with the free market think tank the Institute...

PUBLICATIONS

Labor’s Push For A National Gender Centre Is Informed By Radical Academic Philosophies And Not Facts

Bella d'Abrera 9 May 2019 Ipa today, Opinion,

Should it be elected on the weekend of May 18, the Labor Party has promised to offer free sex change procedures, set up a tax payer-funded National Gender Centre, and appoint a new Commissioner...

Originally appeared in Daily Telegraph

PUBLICATIONS

Union’s War On The West

Bella d'Abrera 2 May 2019 Education and skills, Freedom of speech,

How threatening to some academics is the idea of a program in Western civilisation being taught on their campuses? Enough that it’s worth going to court over. That’s right: the National Tertiary...

Originally appeared in Daily Telegraph

IPA TODAY

Shut Up, You White Males

Renee Gorman 30 April 2019 Education and skills, Freedom of speech,

Earlier this week news broke of a controversial workshop entitled “How privilege manifests in tutorials” run at the University of Melbourne by the Student Union’s Environment Collective. Those...

Originally appeared in Daily Telegraph

PUBLICATIONS

Can’t Howl This Down: More Must Be Done To Protect Free Speech

Matthew Lesh 24 April 2019 Education and skills, Freedom of speech,

Former chief justice Robert French’s review into university freedom of speech is a powerful vindication of those who have raised concerns about free speech protection on Australia’s campuses...

Originally appeared in The Australian

PUBLICATIONS

Roxane Gay’s Toxic Feminism

Renee Gorman 2 April 2019 Freedom of speech, Ipa today,

On Sunday night in Melbourne an event was held that was supposed to be a discussion/debate between Christina Hoff Sommers and Roxane Gay, two well-known feminist commentators. As it turned out...

Originally appeared in The Spectator Australia

Western Civilisation

Fathers of our Constitutional Inheritance

Zachary Gorman 1 April 2019 Constitution and law, Ipa today,

Australia’s successful constitution is a combination of a written document and an unwritten parliamentary system based on custom and precedent imported from Britain. This series – first...

Western Civilisation

BECOME A MEMBER of IPA