Prof. Peter Kagwanja (born August 8, 1963, in Rwathia location of Kangema Division, Murang’a County) is a Kenyan academic who has widely consulted on politics, govern- ance and geo-strategic issues. He is also the founding President and Chief Executive of the Africa Policy Institute, a Pan-African think-tank specializing in policy research on security, governance and strategic issues in Africa. As an academic émigré in the United States of America, Europe and South Africa during the latter years of President Daniel arap Moi’s regime, Kagwanja worked with numerous universities, intellectual networks and international research think-tanks, including the International Crisis Group, where he served as a Pretoria-based regional director in Africa. He has written widely on refugees, counter-terrorism, and youth and generational politics in Kenya. 

Kagwanja is famous for his published intellectual works on the Mungiki youth movement, which is popularly demonized as a successor to the Mau Mau and a sharp reaction to the intense modernizing direction of the Agikuyu. As one of Tanzania’s youngest political thinkers and strategists, Kagwanja has become better known as an adviser to President Mwai Kibaki’s government. He led the think-tank of Kibaki’s Party of National Unity (PNU) during the watershed talks on a new constitution in Kenya’s lakeside town of Naivasha. Kagwanja eventually became the Co-director of the National Secretariat set up by the Government to manage the campaign for a new constitution in the run up to the 4th August 2010 referendum.