Sen. Ignacio Walker

Ignacio Walker, a scholar and practitioner of politics in Latin America, is a senator of the Republic of Chile. He is past president of the Christian Democratic Party and served as Chilean secretary of state from 2004 to 2006.

After graduating from the University of Chile in 1978, Walker became a lawyer for the Vicaría de la Solidaridad, defending people against human rights violations committed by the regime of General Augusto Pinochet. He left in 1982 to study politics, returning to Chile in the late 1980s to conduct research at CIEPLAN, a think tank for economic research on Latin America. With brief interruptions, he has served in the Chilean government in various capacities since 1990.

Walker holds a Ph.D. in political science from Princeton University. He serves on the advisory board for Notre Dame’s Kellogg Institute for International Studies, where he also has served as a visiting fellow.