Mario Vargas Llosa served as a visiting professor of Latin American studies at Harvard University during the 1992–1993 academic year. Harvard later recognized Vargas Llosa by conferring upon him an honorary Doctor of Letters degree in 1999. In 1994 he was elected a member of the "Real Academia Española" (Royal Spanish Academy), he took up seat L on January 15, 1996. He has been involved in the country's political arena. In February 2008 he stopped supporting the People's Party in favor of the recently created Union, Progress and Democracy, claiming that certain conservative views held by the former party are at odds with his classical liberal beliefs. His political ideologies appear in the book "Política razonable", written with Fernando Savater, Rosa Díez, Álvaro Pombo, Albert Boadella and Carlos Martínez Gorriarán. He continues to write, both journalism and fiction, and to travel extensively. He has also taught as a visiting professor at a number of prominent universities.