John Bonython Lecture Series
The John Bonython Lecture series began in 1984 to honour the founding Chairman of the Board of Trustees and has had a tremendous impact on fostering debate, and injecting new ideas into the broader public-policy discourse. This annual gala event gathers CIS supporters, members and friends and provides the opportunity to honour our commitment to the core principles for which we stand.
Past Lecturers
2024 Nicholas Eberstadt | The Coming Global Depopulation
2023 Jason Riley | The Soul of Black Conservatism: Jason Riley
2022 Ambassador John Bolton | The U.S. vs the China-Russia entente
2019 Lionel Shriver | Creativity in an Age of Constraint
2018 Daniel Hannan | Individualism and the Paradox of Affirmative Action
2016 Ayaan Hirsi Ali | Liberal Democracies in an Era of Jihad and Mass Migration
2014 David Kilcullen | Islamism and the Threat to Liberal Ideas
2013 Deidre McCloskey | Cautiously Optimistic: Bourgeois Dignity & Global Prosperity
2012 Charles Murray | Capitalism and Virtue: Reaffirming Old Truths
2011 Frank Furedi | Leadership, Liberty and the Crisis of Authority
2010 Niall Ferguson | Empires on the Edge of Chaos
2009 P.J. O’Rourke | Invisible Hand versus Visible Fist: Securing the Future Wealth of Nations. Excerpts: The Ten Commandments Charming Leftists What would Adam Smith say?
2007 Lawrence Mead | Anglo Primacy at the End of History: The Deep Roots of Power
2006 Arthur Herman | History as the Story of Liberty: A Globalised Western Civilisation
2005 Johan Norberg | The Wealth of Generations: Capitalism and the Belief in the Future
2004 Robert Kagan | The Crisis of Legitimacy: America and the World
2003 Josef Joffe | Gulliver Unbound: Can America Rule the World?
2002 Francis Fukuyama | Has History Restarted Since September 11?
2001 Lauchlan Chipman | What Governments Can’t Know: The Knowledge Economy and the Market
2000 Anne Krueger | Trading Phobias: Governments, NGOs and the Multilateral System
1999 Jerry Jordan | The End of Chaos? Global Markets in the Information Era
1998 Antonio Martino | The Modern Mask of Socialism
1997 James Q. Wilson | The Morality of Capitalism and video of event.
1996 Ray Ball | Institutions of Innovation and Prosperity
1995 Brigette Berger | The Social Roots of Prosperity
1994 Rupert Murdoch | The Century of Networking
1993 Mario Vargas Llosa | Questions of Conquest and Culture
1992 Kenneth R. Minogue | How Much Justice Does A Society Need?
1991 Vaclav Klaus | Dismantling Socialism: A Preliminary Report
1990 James Buchanan | Socialism is Dead But Leviathan Lives On
1989 Peter T. Bauer | Economic Control or Economic Development?
1988 Thomas Sowell | Endangered Freedom
1987 Shirley Robin Letwin | Law and Liberty
1986 Ralph Harris | The Enemies of Progress
1985 Ronald Max Hartwell | The Anti-Capitalist Mentality: Post Mortem for an Ideology
1984 Israel Kirzner | The Role of the Entrepreneur in the Economic System