AEI-JHU Civic Thought Project

The members of the Civic Thought Project group share the conviction that our universities need to do a better job of understanding and cultivating the human capacity to think and act as citizens. We approach the question of how to do so from different backgrounds. We are humanists and social scientists, think-tank scholars and university faculty, liberals and conservatives, working for religious and secular institutions, with experience in academics, politics, and philanthropy. These differences could divide us. Instead, they have enriched our conversations, allowing us to revise our views in the effort to broaden our understanding. 

Civic life is under obvious stress in the nation and on campus. Our conversations in this group have, however, given us hope that a broad-minded, deeply grounded civic education will find an enduring place in the American academy—and that we can set a course toward a more reflective American patriotism, navigating the shoals of anger and adulation, taking our bearings from the intellectual foundations of citizenship. 

The 2024–25 meetings of our group culminated in a conference, Civic Thought and Practice, that hosted faculty and administrators from over 50 universities, as well as philanthropists and policymakers. Video from that event can be viewed below.