A former member of the Christian Democratic Party. He served as a Senator for the 5th Senatorial District (Cordillera),representing the Valparaíso Region,between 2010 and 2018. In August 2010,Walker was elected president of the Christian Democratic Party for a two-year term and served in that role until 27 April 2015.[1]
Previously,he was a Member of the Chamber of Deputies for District No. 10 in the Valparaíso Region,serving two consecutive terms between 1994 and 2002. He also served as Foreign Minister during the administration of President Ricardo Lagos from 2004 to 2006.[1] Walker was a member of the Christian Democratic Party for more than 30 years,ending his affiliation on 7 November 2022.[1]
Walker has been active as an author of books and scholarly articles published in academic journals in Chile,the United States,Spain,France,Brazil,the United Kingdom,and Uruguay. His work has appeared in journals such as Comparative Politics,Foreign Affairs,Dissent,Estudios Públicos,Estudios Internacionales,and the Revista de Ciencia Política.[1]
Early life and education
Walker was born in Santiago on 7 January 1956. He is the son of Ignacio Joaquín Walker Concha and Isabel Margarita Prieto Vial.[2]
He is the brother of former senator Patricio Walker Prieto and current independent senator Matías Walker Prieto. His grandfather,Horacio Walker Larraín,and his great-grandfather,Joaquín Walker Martínez,both served as senators of the Republic of Chile. He is married to María Cecilia Echeñique Celis,with whom he has three children.[1]
He completed his primary and secondary education at Saint George's College. He later studied law at the University of Chile,obtaining his law degree in 1980. In 1982,he completed a Doctorate in Political Science at Princeton University in the United States.[1]
After completing his doctoral studies abroad,he returned to Chile and worked as an associate researcher at the Corporation for Latin American Economic Research (CIEPLAN). Concurrently,until 1990,he served as a professor in the Master’s Program in Political Science at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. He later served as director of the Master’s Program in Political Science at Andrés Bello University.[1]
Between 1989 and 1990,he served as president of the Chilean Political Science Association. From 1990 until 1993,he headed the Division of Political and Institutional Relations at the Ministry General Secretariat of the Presidency.[1]
Between 2007 and 2008,Walker was a visiting professor and research fellow at Princeton University in the United States.[1]
Walker served as a Deputy in the Chilean Parliament (1994-2002),President of the Christian Democratic Party (2010-2015),and Senator (2010-2018). He also served as Foreign Minister of Chile (2004-2006).[4] In 1982,he earned a PhD in political science from Princeton University.[1] Between 2007 and 2008,he was a visiting professor and researcher at Princeton University.[1] In 2018,Walker became the Kellogg Institute’s Hewlett Fellow for Public Policy at the University of Notre Dame.[3]
Walker was a panel member in the Kellogg Institute's Inter-American dialogue on the 30th anniversary of the 1988 Chilean plebiscite,which paved the way for the end of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship and the return to democracy in Chile.[5] The panel included both Pinochet's supporters and opponents who recalled and discussed the historic "NO" campaign,which ultimately led to Pinochet's defeat in the referendum and Chile's successful transition to democracy.[5] Along with Walker,members of the historic panel included Andrés Allamand - Senator of Chile,Eugenio Tiron - Executive President of Tironi Associates,Rev. Timothy R. Scully - Professor of Political Science and Hacket Family Director of the Institute for Educational Initiatives,and J. Samuel Valenzuela - Professor of Sociology,University of Notre Dame.[6]
Publications
2020 -- Cristianos sin Cristiandad:(reflexiones de un legislador católico)
2018 -- La Nueva Mayoría. Reflexiones sobre una derrota
2018 -- Democracia Cristiana que queremos:El chile que soñamos
2016 -- Democracy in Latin America:Between Hope and Despair (Kellogg Institute Series on Democracy and Development)
2009 -- La Democracia En América Latina
2006 -- Chile and Latin America in a Globalized World
1990 -- Socialismo Y Democracia:Chile Y Europa En Perspectiva Comparada
1986 -- Democracia En Chile;Doce Conferencias (with JoséA. Vieragallo,et al.)
↑"Awarded: Order The Sun of Peru"(PDF). Ministry of Foreign Relations. Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriore. Archived from the original(PDF) on 1 November 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
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