Gonzalo Banda is a political scientist, university professor, columnist, and media commentator. He was born in Arequipa and grew up in the populous neighborhood of María Isabel, just a few blocks from the IV Centenario Stadium, where FBC Melgar — the club he supports — played its home games for many years. He studied at De La Salle School and later pursued a degree in law at the Catholic University of Santa María, thanks to generous scholarships.

He earned a Master’s degree in Political Science from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, and a Master’s in Public Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), thanks to the prestigious Chevening Scholarship awarded by the British Government. In 2025, he will begin his doctoral research at the Institute of the Americas at University College London (UCL), focusing on the processes of political decline faced by many countries in Latin America.

He is a columnist for El Comercio and El País, and contributes articles to Americas Quarterly and other outlets. His political analyses have also been featured in leading international media such as the Financial Times, The Economist, BBC World Service, Bloomberg, CNN, The New York Times, and Foreign Policy, among others.

In 2023, Ipsos Perú recognized him as one of the most influential political analysts in the country.

He is a university professor at the Universidad Católica de Santa María and has published several articles and book chapters on subnational politics, populism, and political culture. He has also been invited to lecture at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University, the Latin American Centre at the University of Oxford, the Hay Festival, among other institutions. He is also an associate member of multiple civic organizations that promote democracy, such as Transparencia.
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