| José Woldenberg | |
| Order: | 1st |
| Office: | President of the Federal Electoral Institute of Mexico |
| Term Start: | 1996 |
| Term End: | 2003 |
| Successor: | Luis Carlos Ugalde |
| Birth Date: | 8 September 1952[1] |
| Birth Place: | Monterrey, Nuevo León |
| Birthname: | Isaac José Woldenberg Karakowski[2] |
| Citizenship: | Mexican |
| Spouse: | Julia Carabias (divorced) |
| Residence: | Mexico City |
| Alma Mater: | National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)[3] |
| Occupation: | Political scientist, editor and commentator. |
| Honorific Prefix: | Ilustrísimo Señor |
Isaac José Woldenberg Karakowski (born 8 September 1952) is a Mexican political scientist and sociologist who served as the first president of the Federal Electoral Institute and currently works as director of Nexos magazine.
Woldenberg was born in Monterrey into a Jewish family that had immigrated from Eastern Europe. His father, originally from Poland, arrived to Veracruz at the age of two and lived a few years in San Luis Potosí while his mother had been born in the northern state of Chihuahua into a family originally from Lithuania.[4]
He graduated from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) with a bachelor's degree in Sociology (1975), a master's degree in Latin American Studies (1987) and began a doctorate in Political Science (1993-1995), but didn't complete it. During his college years he also studied film-making at the Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematográficos (1972-1975), but dropped out after three years.[5]
He was drawn into politics in his twenties, spending five days in jail for his involvement in a university strike and becoming a founding member of the Unified Socialist Party of Mexico (PSUM, 1987), the Mexican Socialist Party (PMS, 1987) and the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD, 1989) which he left in April 1991.
He has worked as a Political Science professor at the National Autonomous University and has authored several books, including Antecedentes del sindicalismo (1981), Memoria de la izquierda (1998) and La construcción de la democracia (2002).
He was previously married to Julia Carabias, former Secretary of the Environment in the cabinet of Ernesto Zedillo, with whom he had a daughter.