ABSTRACT
Ricardo Lagos Escobar is an eminent academic, who has written five texts on Chilean politics and economics. He was inaugurated as president on 11 March 2000. He founded the Party for Democracy (PPD) as a vehicle for the outlawed Socialist Party. The Christian Democratic Party candidate, Patricio Aylwin Azcar, became president and Lagos's PPD was included in the ruling CPD coalition. In 1982 Lagos sat on the executive committee of the PS, and was president of the Democratic Alliance. In 1987, following the legalization of non-Marxist political parties, he founded the PPD and, as part of the CPD, he canvassed the nation in support of the no campaign against Pinochets confirmation for a new term as president. Lagos ran for president against the official CPD candidate, Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle of the PDC who went on to a convincing win. In 1999, victory for Lagos made him the country's first socialist president since Allende.
