At the dawn of the 20th century, the Action Française concluded that the Republican education system, from primary schools to universities, particularly in the teaching of history, had become a project of dismantling the French nation.

The institute was initially financed by Louise de Courville, a friend of Charles Maurras and the Barrès family.

The courses critiqued and denounced democratic ideas by studying the doctrines of the Republic and the major figures of democracy.

Louis Dimier presented counter-revolution as "a work of intelligence directed at dismantling what, for a hundred years in France, has been called the French Revolution."

He organized the curriculum around six themes and thirteen authors, including: The bulletins of the Courses of the Institut d'Action française were initially published by the Jean Rivain bookshop and later by the Nouvelle Librairie nationale.