Nova Civitas was a

Flemish Flemish may refer to: * Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium * Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium *Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium * Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

based on the

principle A principle may relate to a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of beliefs or behavior or a chain of reasoning. They provide a guide for behavior or evaluation. A principle can make values explicit, so t ...

s of

classic liberalism Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics and civil liberties under the rule of law, with special emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, econ ...

in combination with

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

conservatism Conservatism is a Philosophy of culture, cultural, Social philosophy, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, Convention (norm), customs, and Value (ethics and social science ...

. Nova Civitas claimed at its founding to be completely independent, although it was recognized and supported by the Flemish Liberal Party (VLD). The Founding Chairman of Nova Civitas,

Boudewijn Bouckaert Boudewijn Bouckaert (born 21 July 1947) is a Belgian law professor, a member of the Flemish Movement, and a libertarian conservative thinker and politician. He was a Member of the Flemish Parliament for the liberal party List Dedecker. He is a ...

, was a long-time board member of the VLD. Nova Civitas was founded in 1992, in the tradition of the Belgian 1980s,

Ludwig Von Mises Institute The Ludwig von Mises Institute for Austrian Economics, or Mises Institute, is a nonprofit think tank headquartered in Auburn, Alabama, that is a center for Austrian economics, right-wing libertarian thought and the paleolibertarian and anarcho ...

as a new

political club The political club is a membership based organization. Membership of a political club is an outward show of political allegiance. Victorian England In the Victorian era the political club was synonymous with a political party. Parliamentarians t ...

to support the rebirth of a strong liberal movement in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

dominated by the VLD in Flanders and the Liberal Reformist Party in

Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...

. Nova Civitas was headquartered in

Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...

. In 2004, a new regional committee was created in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

, followed in 2006 by one in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. Nova Civitas opposed the "socialist welfare state" and advocated further transfers of competences from the federal to the regional levels. Nova Civitas also proposed a regrouping of political forces into what would have become a de facto two-party system, with a big centre-right/right-wing political party alliance in Flanders, including VLD,

Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams Christian Democratic and Flemish (, ; CD&V) is a Flemish Christian-democratic political party in Belgium. The party has historical ties to both trade unionism ( ACV) and trade associations ( UNIZO) and the Farmer's League. Until 2001, the party w ...

New Flemish Alliance The New Flemish Alliance ( ; N-VA) is a Flemish Movement, Flemish nationalist, Conservatism, conservative Political parties in Belgium, political party in Belgium. The party was established in 2001 by the right-leaning faction of the centrist-na ...

and

Vlaams Belang Vlaams Belang (; ; VB) is a Flemish nationalist, Eurosceptic and right-wing populist political party in the Flemish Region and Brussels Capital Region of Belgium. It is widely considered by the media and political analysts to be on the polit ...

. At the time, this stirred controversy and several Nova Civitas members were rebuked by the VLD.

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

Hugo Coveliers Hugo F.V. Coveliers (born 21 February 1947) is a retired Belgian politician and lawyer. He was a member of the Belgian Chamber of People's Representatives between 1985 and 1995, and from 1993 to 2003. Since 2003, he has been a member of the Bel ...

and

Jean-Marie Dedecker Jean-Marie Louis Dedecker (born 13 June 1952) is a Belgian politician. In 1999 and 2003, Dedecker was directly elected to the Belgian Senate for the Flemish Liberals and Democrats (VLD). In 2004, he ran for a seat in the Flemish Parliament, a ...

were even forced to leave the party in the ensuing turmoil. In 2007, Nova Civitas member Jean-Marie Dedecker started his own political party, the eponymous

List Dedecker Libertarian, Direct, Democratic (, ; LDD) is a conservative-liberal, libertarian, right-wing populist Flemish political party in Belgium. The party surprised commentators by winning five seats in the Chamber and one seat in the Senate in 2007, ...

(now: Libertarian, Direct, Democratic) and established a new think tank, Cassandra, to serve as the ideological laboratory for his party. From 2003 to 2009, Nova Civitas granted an annual award: Liberty Prize. In 2009, both Cassandra and Nova Civitas fell victim of internal disputes, and decided to disband themselves. A new classical liberal think tank
''Libera!''
replaced Nova Civitas. Libera! grants the annual Prize for Liberty.

Prize for Liberty

From 2003 to 2009, Nova Civitas granted the annual Prize for Liberty. Each laureate was expected to provide a

Gustave de Molinari Gustave de Molinari (; 3 March 1819 – 28 January 1912) was a Belgian political economist and French Liberal School theorist associated with French ''laissez-faire'' economists such as Frédéric Bastiat and Hippolyte Castille. Biography Bo ...

-lecture. Since the 2009, the Liberty Prize was continued by Libera!. * 2003:

Luuk van Middelaar Luuk Johannes van Middelaar (born 9 May 1973 in Eindhoven) is a Dutch historian and political philosopher. From December 2009 to 2014 he was a member of the ''cabinet'' of Herman Van Rompuy, the first full-time President of the European Council. ...

, liberal philosopher and publicist * 2004:

Ayaan Hirsi Ali Ayaan Hirsi Ali (; born 13 November 1969) is a Dutch and American writer, activist, conservative thinker and former politician. She is a critic of Islam and an advocate for the rights and self-determination of Muslim women, opposing forced mar ...

, Dutch parliament member for the VVD * 2005: Matthias Storme, professor and liberal theorist * 2006:

Alain Destexhe Alain Destexhe (; born 19 June 1958) is a Belgian politician. He was a senator from 1995 to 2011, and remained a member of the Brussels Regional Parliament until 2019. Destexhe was a member of the liberal Mouvement Réformateur (MR) and repr ...

, Belgian senator for MR * 2007:

Derk Jan Eppink Derk Jan Eppink (born 7 November 1958) is a Dutch journalist, politician in the Netherlands, and former cabinet secretary for European Commissioners Bolkestein (1999–2004) and Kallas (2004–2007). In 2009, he was elected to the Eu ...

, liberal-conservative journalist * 2008:

Urbanus Urbain Servranckx (born 7 June 1949), better known as Urbanus, is a Belgian comedian, actor, singer and comic book writer. Although he is most famous as comedian, some of his songs became hits, such as ''Bakske vol met stro'' (1979), ''Madammen ...

, comedian and entertainer * 2009: Mark Grammens, conservative journalist Awards b
Libera!
* 2010:

Frits Bolkestein Frederik "Frits" Bolkestein (; 4 April 1933 – 17 February 2025) was a Dutch politician and energy executive who served as Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) from 1990 to 1998 and List of European Commissioners by nati ...

, Dutch/European politician * 2011:

Theodore Dalrymple Anthony Malcolm Daniels (born 11 October 1949), also known by the pen name Theodore Dalrymple (), is a conservative English cultural critic, prison physician and psychiatrist. He worked in a number of Sub-Saharan African countries as well as in ...

, conservative theorist * 2012:

Johan Van Overtveldt Johan Van Overtveldt (born 24 August 1955) is a Belgian journalist and politician of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA). He served as Minister of Finance of Belgium from 2014 until 2018. He is currently a Member of the European Parliament since July ...

, chief editor of Trends * 2013: Frank van Dun, law philosopher * 2014: Peter De Keyzer, chief economist

BNP Paribas Fortis BNP Paribas Fortis is an international bank based in Belgium and a subsidiary of French banking group BNP Paribas. The bank was created in May 2009 after BNP Paribas acquired 75% of the Belgian Fortis Bank from the Federal Participation and Inve ...

* 2015:

, founder LDD * 2016: Fernand Huts, chairman Katoen Natie * 2017: Hans Bourlon and

Gert Verhulst Gert Tony Hubert Verhulst (born 24 January 1968 in Berchem) is a Belgian presenter, entrepreneur, singer, director, actor, screenwriter, composer, film producer, and business magnate. As a prominent figure within the children's entertainment ...

, founders of Studio 100 * 2018:

Thierry Baudet Thierry Henri Philippe Baudet (; born 28 January 1983) is a Dutch politician, author, and self-declared Conspiracy theory, conspiracy theorist. He is the founder and leader of the far-right Forum for Democracy (FvD), for which he has been a memb ...

, founder of

Forum voor Democratie Forum for Democracy ( ; FvD) is a far-right political party in the Netherlands, originally founded as a think tank by Thierry Baudet and Henk Otten in 2015 before registering itself as a party the following year. The FvD first participated in e ...

* 2019:

Marc De Vos Marc or MARC may refer to: People * Marc (given name), people with the first name * Marc (surname), people with the family name Acronyms * MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging, * MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system ...

, founder of the Itinera Institute * 2020: De Strangers, band from Antwerp * 2021: Lieven Annemans, health economist * 2022:

, law and economics professor, former President of Libera! * 2023:

Rik Torfs Henri Maria Dymphna André Laurent "Rik" Torfs (born 16 October 1956) is a Belgium, Belgian Canon law of the Catholic Church, canon law scholar and media personality. He is a former List of members of the Senate of Belgium, Senator for the Christ ...

, former rector of the

KU Leuven KU Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is a Catholic research university in the city of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. Founded in 1425, it is the oldest university in Belgium and the oldest university in the Low Countries. In addition to its mai ...

() * 2024: Mia Doornaert, journalist and columnist

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nova Civitas 1992 establishments in Belgium Libertarianism in Belgium Libertarian think tanks Think tanks established in 1992 Think tanks based in Belgium

Prize for Liberty

See also

References