Eurasia Group is pleased to announce the release of the report, "Top 10 Leaders to Watch in 2008." This is a forward-looking list of extraordinary politicians whom Eurasia Group expects to significantly impact the trajectory of their country and/or global politics in the year ahead.
"The US presidential campaign and the Beijing Olympics may be the big stories of 2008, but the leaders to watch this year are in neither the US nor China," states the report. "The first four leaders on our list - from Iran, France, Russia and Pakistan - will be making decisions for their countries that have powerful geostrategic implications."
At the top of the list is Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameni. Iran's "most powerful policymaker must steer Iran through a high-stakes standoff with the West," states the report. "Khamenei's most important decisions will determine how aggressively Iran pursues its nuclear program and how much support it provides to anti-US proxies in the Middle East. His decisions on these matters will have significant ramifications for political risk far beyond Iran's borders in 2008."
The full list features the following leaders:
1. Ayatollah Ali Khameni, Supreme Leader of Iran
2. Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France
3. Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation
4. Pervez Musharraf, President of Pakistan
5. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of Indonesia
6. Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa's African National Congress party
7. Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, President of Nigeria
8. Mayawati Kumari, Leader of India's Bahujan Samaj Party
9. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil
10. Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, President of Turkmenistan
The Top 10 Leaders report was constructed by the research practice of Eurasia Group, which includes the firm's regional and functional practice groups, as well as its global network of over 400 individuals who comprise in-country teams. Eurasia Group hopes to draw attention to not only important leaders, but also to the key decisions and inflection points that the firm expects to define global politics in the year ahead.
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About Eurasia Group Eurasia Group is a research and consulting firm that focuses on global political risk and emerging market country analysis, serving major financial institutions, multinational corporations and governments. Founded in 1998, Eurasia Group has a full-time staff of 85, a global network of more than 480 in-country experts and partners covering more than 65 countries. Eurasia Group is headquartered in New York, with offices in Washington, DC, and London. www.eurasiagroup.net
