For International Kennedy School Alumni in Politics, A Good Year

With the election of Felipe Calderón Hinjosa as president of Mexico earlier this week, Harvard-related politicians capped off an impressive year that included electoral victories in Liberia, Canada, and Colombia.

In November 2005, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was elected president of war-torn Liberia, becoming the world’s first black female president and Africa’s first elected female head of state. A 1971 graduate of the Kennedy School of Government—where she earned a master’s in public administration—Johnson-Sirleaf is a former World Bank and Citibank economist who has promised to bring stability and economic development to her West African nation.

In Canada this past January, Michael G. Ignatieff, a prominent human rights scholar, was elected to the House of Commons where he now sits as a Liberal. A former Kennedy School professor who holds a Ph.D. in History from Harvard, Ignatieff has since declared his candidacy for his party’s leadership. The Liberals suffered a historic defeat in January when the Conservatives took power for the first time in over 12 years.

Earlier this month, Ignatieff picked up an important endorsement from Lt. Gen. Roméo A. Dallaire, the force commander of the 1993 United Nations mission in Rwanda who now sits as a Liberal in the unelected Canadian Senate. In the 2004-2005 academic year, Dallaire was a fellow at the Kennedy School’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. At the time, Ignatieff served as the center’s director.

Finally, Álvaro Uribe Vélez, the staunchest American ally in Latin America, was re-elected president of Colombia in May. A conservative who was first elected in 2002 and holds a certificate in Administration and Management from Harvard, Uribe has won acclaim for improving security in a nation long ravaged by drug cartels, Marxist insurgent groups, and right-wing paramilitaries—although some have accused him of having ties to these groups.

By electing conservatives, Colombia and Mexico have bucked the leftist trend sweeping through Latin America. Over the past few years, left-of center governments have come to power by winning elections in Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, and Peru.

—Staff writer Paras D. Bhayani can be reached at pbhayani@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Claire M. Guehenno can be reached at guehenno@fas.harvard.edu.