Former Peruvian President Francisco Sagasti: Academic Turned Politician

Former President of Peru, Francisco Sagasti, is identifiable by both his charming humor and impressive resume spanning national governance, science and technology, academia, global development, “and so on and so forth,” as he often says to abridge his extensive career. As the author of more than 25 books and 150 academic papers (and counting), even Sagasti, himself, must review his life weekly to recall everything he has done. But don’t worry, he says, “as you know, the day has 36 hours!” 

Sagasti was born and raised in Lima, Peru by parents who encouraged his multidisciplinary interests. He studied Industrial and Chemical Engineering before shifting to management, planning, and governance. He pursued consulting work in England for Stafford Beer, a pioneer in cybernetics management and decision models. “The Beatles were starting, the Rolling Stones were starting, Sagasti reminisces, “so it was like a paradise for a 21-year-old at that time.” 

He then earned his master’s from Penn State in Industrial Engineering with emphasis on mathematical statistics, then went on to UPenn for his PhD. Sagasti felt particularly fortunate to attend the Wharton School of Business at the dawn of both systems thinking management sciences and policy planning sciences. “Without noticing it, I ended up becoming the repository of a set of ideas that went all the way through optimization and mathematical models.”  

Sagasti was soon hired by the Canadian International Development Research Center with which he travelled around the world and was inspired to establish GRADE, one of Peru’s top think tanks. He ran GRADE as Executive Director for seven years while advising the Peruvian government and working across the private sector and international institutions.  

Sagasti moved on to head the Strategic Planning Division of the World Bank at a pivotal point of internal organizational changes. He aimed to “disrupt and to basically socialize the vision of the future of the bank.” During that time, he also became chairman of the UN Advisory Committee on Science and Technology. 

Returning to Peru, Sagasti co-founded FORO Nacional Internacional’s Agenda Peru Program, another think tank through which he spent a decade studying democratic governance, institutional reforms, and development strategies for Peru. Sagasti thinks of Peru as a “political laboratory” because of its highly concentrated, diverse cultural history and ecosystem.

Sagasti also worked with UNESCO and advised the United Nations Development Program’s strategic plan. “So I kept on going back and forth between the national and international, always in policy and in politics… although my involvement in politics was very gradual.” 

In 2000, Sagasti’s political career picked up. Frustrated but undeterred by the Fujimori government’s dismissal of Agenda Peru’s visions, Sagasti contributed to the founding of the Party for Social Democracy. It merged with the Social Force Party, leading Sagasti to refocus his efforts on advising about policies and contributing to Peruvian technology system design. He chaired the executive unit of the first loan for science and technology granted to Peru by the American Development Bank in 2007. 

Then, a return to politics. He helped establish the Purple Party and authored its logical manifesto among other ideological materials. Ushered forth by his party despite considering himself “more of a secretary,” Sagasti campaigned for and was elected to congress. 

In 2020 while in congress, Sagasti chaired the Science and Technology Committee and witnessed the impeachment of President Vizcarra. In line with constitutional succession, Speaker of the House Manuel Merino replaced Vizcarra, bringing with him a far-right agenda. He lasted six days before severe protests prompted his resignation. With no one left in the chain of command, Congress elected Sagasti Speaker of the House and therefore interim President of the Republic—Peru’s third president in one week.  

Sagasti has been called “the only president elected by his political enemies.” His governing methodology wove together principles of mindset, evidence, and character through which he secured 80 million COVID-19 vaccines for the people of Peru and raised presidential approval ratings from 30% to nearly 60%. Sagasti champions “radical moderation… radical in that it rejects the extremes, and moderate in the sense of bringing everybody together.”  

After his presidency, Sagasti began his book Gobernar en Tiempos de Crisis (To Govern in Times of Crisis), which he completed during the first three months of his Wilson Center Fellowship. Also at Wilson, Sagasti wrote a paper on how best to renew multilateral development banks. 

Abe Lowenthal, the founding director of the Wilson Center Latin America Program and the namesake for Sagasti's fellowship,  left a strong impression on Sagasti as “one of the most knowledgeable persons and [he became] a very good friend.” 

Due to the pandemic, however, Sagasti found the Wilson Center’s characteristically collaborative atmosphere replaced by “the time to reflect, to think on my own, to revise my material, to produce other things.”  

Now back in Peru, Sagasti has taught through various visiting professorships and has published three new books, setting another record: the most books launched at one Lima book fair. 

At close to 80 years, Sagasti is thinking about next steps for the care of his son with a disability and the legacy he will leave to future generations. “Life is a terminal disease! Only those who catch life die, you know!” Sagasti still has plans for two more books and colleagues are urging him to run for Senate. “I am considering it only for one reason: because senate comes from ‘senectitude’—from ‘senile.’ I qualify for that!”  

Sagasti also hopes to cement his legacy as an influencer. Through podcasts, he seeks to impart upon young people how to identify connections to build just and lasting institutions, and how to ensure theory and action work together. As he tells his students, “If you have only one concept in your mind, the concept of hammer, then the world is made exclusively of nails… but if you have a toolbox, then you can distinguish between finer [details] and then see how they relate to each other.” 

Sagasti certainly has an expansive toolbox and he’s ready to share it with the world. 

This blog was researched and drafted by Bella Wexler.