Ignacio Walker

Upon Walker's graduation from the University of Chile in 1978, he joined Vicaría de la Solidaridad as an attorney-at-law.{{cite web |title=Ignacio Walker Hewlett: Fellow for Public Policy |url=https://kellogg.nd.edu/people/ignacio-walker |website=Kellogg Institute |publisher=University of Notre Dame |access-date=26 June 2021}} At Vicaría de la Solidaridad, Walker defended people against human rights violations committed by the regime of General Augusto Pinochet.

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).{{cite web |title=ASP National Convention 2021 Schedule of Events |url=https://solidarity-party.org/2021-convention-schedule/ |website=American Solidarity Party |access-date=26 June 2021 |archive-date=26 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210626041831/https://solidarity-party.org/2021-convention-schedule/ |url-status=dead }} In 1982,{{cite web |title=Ignacio Walker Prieto Parliamentary biographical reviews |url=https://www.bcn.cl/historiapolitica/resenas_parlamentarias/wiki/Ignacio_Walker_Prieto |website=Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional de Chile |publisher=Library of the National Congress of Chile |access-date=26 June 2021}} he earned a PhD in political science from Princeton University.{{cite web |author= |url=http://historiapolitica.bcn.cl/resenas_parlamentarias/wiki/Ignacio_Walker_Prieto |title=Reseña Biográfica Parlamentaria Ignacio Walker Prieto |language=Spanish |publisher=Historia Política Legislativa del Congreso Nacional de Chile |date= |accessdate=22 December 2015 |archive-date=26 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160526205412/http://historiapolitica.bcn.cl/resenas_parlamentarias/wiki/Ignacio_Walker_Prieto |url-status=dead }} Between 2007 and 2008, he was a visiting professor and researcher at Princeton University. In 2018, Walker became the Kellogg Institute’s Hewlett Fellow for Public Policy at the University of Notre Dame.

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.{{cite web |title=Commemoration of the Victory of the "NO" Campaign in Opposition to Pinochet |url=https://kellogg.nd.edu/commemoration-victory-no-campaign-opposition-pinochet |website=Kellogg Institute for International Studies |publisher=University of Notre Dame |access-date=26 June 2021}} 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. 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.{{cite web |title=Video of the Commemoration of the Victory of the "NO" Campaign in Opposition to Pinochet |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnI44dkoQqc |website=Kellogg Institute YouTube Page | date=28 September 2018 |publisher=Google LLC |access-date=26 June 2021}}

Walker is a descendant of Horacio Walker and {{Interlanguage link|Joaquín Walker Martínez|es}}. He has eight siblings, including politicians Patricio Walker and Matías Walker.

On March 22, 1980, he married the singer Cecilia Echenique. The couple have three children: Elisa (lawyer), Ignacio (filmmaker) and Benjamin (musician).{{cite news |last1=Paz Lagos V |first1=Maria |title=Ignacio Walker: family abandonment in political life is tremendous |url=http://diario.elmercurio.com/detalle/index.asp?id={98d7185a-2eed-418e-8205-19801eb08e4e} |access-date=19 March 2018 |work=Ya! Magazine |publisher=El Mercurio |date=12 February 2002}}

• 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 José A. Vieragallo, et al.)

• 2005—Grand Cross of the Order of the Infante Dom Henrique -- Prince Henry the Navigator (November 22, 2005){{cite web |title=ORDENS HONORÍFICAS PORTUGUESAS |url=https://www.ordens.presidencia.pt/?idc=154&list=1 |website=Ordens Presidencia |access-date=26 June 2021}}
• 2004—Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun of Peru (December 10, 2004){{cite web |title=Awarded: Order The Sun of Peru |url=https://cde.gestion2.e3.pe/doc/0/0/1/5/2/152563.pdf |website=Ministry of Foreign Relations |publisher=Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriore |access-date=26 June 2021 |archive-date=1 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191101094328/https://cde.gestion2.e3.pe/doc/0/0/1/5/2/152563.pdf |url-status=dead }}

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{{wikiquote|Ignacio Walker Prieto}}

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{{s-bef|before=Soledad Alvear}}

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Category:1956 births

Category:Living people

Category:University of Chile alumni

Category:Princeton University alumni

Category:Christian Democratic Party (Chile) politicians

Category:Foreign ministers of Chile

Category:Members of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile

Category:Politicians from Santiago, Chile

Category:Chilean people of English descent

Category:20th-century Chilean lawyers

Category:Academic staff of the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso

Category:Senators of the LIII Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile

Category:Senators of the LIV Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile

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