Your Top 5 Favorite World Leaders Right Now

[Flake]

José Mujica
Matteo Renzi
Evo Morales
Barack Obama
Rafael Correa

So, the same as Sol.

[Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends]

Tony Abbott
Stephen Harper
Shinzo Abe

After this, it's hard to think of anyone else that I really like/am familiar enough with, so honourable mentions to:

Donald Tusk
Angela Merkel (not a fan of her EU stance, although if I was German, I'd like her domestic policies/those of the CDU)

[traininthedistance]

Also why does Lief like Shinzo Abe? He's doing a good job but you'd think the nationalist stuff would not be Lief's type.

Abe has singularly avoided the hard-money inflation panic fallacy, and actually engaged in the sort of expansionary monetary policy that basically the entire industrialized world needs right now.

That's kinda important.  Important enough to cancel out the nationalist crap?  Ultimately that's not a question with a clear yes or no answer- I'm certainly torn, myself.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Evo Morales
Dilma Rousseff
Rafael Correa
Jose Mujica
Michele Bachelet
Barack Obama

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

This is tough. There are very few great leaders.

Lee Hsien Loong
Thein Sein (I mean, who really thought Burma would democratise?)
Toomas Hendrik Ilves
David Cameron
Irakli Garibashvili
Enrique Pena Nieto

Also why does Lief like Shinzo Abe? He's doing a good job but you'd think the nationalist stuff would not be Lief's type.

wot

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

This is actually kind of tricky. I'd like to stick to just people who are actually accomplished instead of generic leftists who got elected and are generally competent like so many of the lists here but that doesn't leave many besides Mujica, Morales and Obama. Actually there's Abe too but he's soooo terrible in other ways. How about Marzouki? Certainly the most successful Arab Spring country.

Paul Kagame

Erm, a guy who runs a dictatorship that's pretty nasty and repressive even by African standards and lately has even been found to arranging hits on dissidents living outside of the country?

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Isn't Morales basically a petty tyrant trying really hard to be the new Chavez? Because he needs to step up his game. Maduro and his magic ghost bird is giving him a run for his money. I suggest taking some ideas from the Qadaffi playbook.

[Incipimus iterum]

Fredrik Reinfeldt
Sauli Niinistö
Angela Merkel
Ma Ying-jeou
Barack Obama

[Oldiesfreak1854]

In no particular order:

Benjamin Netanyahu
Angela Merkel
Stephen Harper
Tony Abbott
Enda Kenny

I'd mention David Cameron, except that if I remember correctly, he's been dragged down by scandals over the past few years.

[SWE]

José Mujica
Evo Morales
Michelle Bachelet
Pope Francis
Elio di Rupo

[Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends]

Tony Abbott
Stephen Harper
Shinzo Abe

After this, it's hard to think of anyone else that I really like/am familiar enough with, so honourable mentions to:

Donald Tusk
Angela Merkel (not a fan of her EU stance, although if I was German, I'd like her domestic policies/those of the CDU)

Add Benjamin Netanyahu to my list, with Abbott, Harper and Abe.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Why Tusk? He's one of the biggest Europhiles in the EU, I thought you'd be opposed to all that.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

You guys are picking from the wrong list

[Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends]

Why Tusk? He's one of the biggest Europhiles in the EU, I thought you'd be opposed to all that.

I was going from his domestic policies, hence why he's merely on the honourable mentions list with Merkel. Is he more of a Europhile than Merkel?

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

I would say that Tusk is, if I'm honest. He has reasons to be - Poland much prefers (for obvious reasons) to escape the Russian sphere of influence as much as possible.

His speech when Poland ascended to the EU comes to mind:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

It's why Tusk would be on my "Five World Leaders I would oppose ordinarily, but admire nonetheless" - I like optimism, even in the face of corrosive cynicism. Others would be:

Modi - say what you like about him, the guy knows how to get things done. Although I'm certain that the guy is being artificially bigged up, I'm pretty sure that India will be left with a competitive infrastructure at least.

Abe - despite nationalism, is avoiding knee-jerk inflation fears. He's in a hard place in Japan, which is suffering from a desperate demographic squeeze (dare I say it - like Europe would be if the populist right stopped immigration); but is performing admirably.

Cameron - I dislike the guy, but he could be sooo much worse. His detoxifying of the Tories, if somewhat cosmetic, was way overdue. His support for gay marriage, for no real political benefit (in fact the opposite, with his party becoming divided and obsessed with the issue) really made him rise in my opinion. He did it because he believed it to be right - not for petty political reasons. I can't imagine pragmatic, moderate Merkel doing that.

I can't really think of any other conservatives in power that I respect. Possibly Key, but I don't know hell about NZ politics.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Yeah, Tusk is probably one of the better right-wingers out there. Along with Reinfeldt.

[Cassius]

Cameron supported gay marriage precisely because of his crusade to 'modernise' the Tory party. I mean, I actually do doubt as to whether he would have introduced that legislation if the Conservatives had won a majority in 2010. Whilst, in hindsight, it was an obvious strategic blunder (in my opinion, it was the issue that really lit UKIP's fuse), I genuinely believe that he felt it would be a useful strategic move that would help the Tories win a majority in 2015.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Cameron supported gay marriage precisely because of his crusade to 'modernise' the Tory party. I mean, I actually do doubt as to whether he would have introduced that legislation if the Conservatives had won a majority in 2010. Whilst, in hindsight, it was an obvious strategic blunder (in my opinion, it was the issue that really lit UKIP's fuse), I genuinely believe that he felt it would be a useful strategic move that would help the Tories win a majority in 2015.

I think that Cameron is too intelligent to have thought that his party would have swallowed the marriage pill with no resistance. After all, he was leader during the tortured Civil Partnerships Bill passage; he knows that the only value the modern party shares is a mutual love of backstabbing and infighting; he had to have known that backbenchers would bicker and make him look weak. It just seems like way too much of an electoral risk for what is ultimately a minor issue for most people - and in an election year to boot!

The fact that (as far as I know) he pre-empted Labour and the Lib Dems on the issue, suggests a genuine belief to me. Perhaps I'm naive, I don't know.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

No particular order:

Angela Merkel
David Cameron
Erna Solberg
Matteo Renzi
Barack Obama
Papa Francesco

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

I'll say on balance:

Rafael Correa
Evo Morales
Jose Mujica
Nicolas Maduro
Ram Baran Yadav

[Simfan34]

This is tough. There are very few great leaders.

Lee Hsien Loong
Thein Sein (I mean, who really thought Burma would democratise?)
Toomas Hendrik Ilves
David Cameron
Irakli Garibashvili
Enrique Pena Nieto

Also why does Lief like Shinzo Abe? He's doing a good job but you'd think the nationalist stuff would not be Lief's type.

wot

I defer to Hash.

[NewYorkExpress]

Honorable Mention;

Barack Obama
Enrique Pena Neito (President of Mexico)
Enda Kenny (Irish Prime Minister)
Matteo Renzi (Italian Prime Minister)
Benjamin Netanyahu (Israeli Prime Minister)

The List;
5. Angela Merkel (Chancellor of Germany)
4. David Cameron (British Prime Minister)
3. Francios Hollande (President of France)
2. Ban-Ki Moon (Secretary-General of the United Nations)
1. Beningo Aquino III (President of the Philippines)

[H. Ross Peron]

Honorable Mention;

Barack Obama
Enrique Pena Neito (President of Mexico)
Enda Kenny (Irish Prime Minister)
Matteo Renzi (Italian Prime Minister)
Benjamin Netanyahu (Israeli Prime Minister)

The List;
5. Angela Merkel (Chancellor of Germany)
4. David Cameron (British Prime Minister)
3. Francios Hollande (President of France)
2. Ban-Ki Moon (Secretary-General of the United Nations)
1. Beningo Aquino III (President of the Philippines)

I can understand Merkel but why Cameron and Natanyahu?

[NewYorkExpress]

Honorable Mention;

Barack Obama
Enrique Pena Neito (President of Mexico)
Enda Kenny (Irish Prime Minister)
Matteo Renzi (Italian Prime Minister)
Benjamin Netanyahu (Israeli Prime Minister)

The List;
5. Angela Merkel (Chancellor of Germany)
4. David Cameron (British Prime Minister)
3. Francios Hollande (President of France)
2. Ban-Ki Moon (Secretary-General of the United Nations)
1. Beningo Aquino III (President of the Philippines)

I can understand Merkel but why Cameron and Natanyahu?

Netanyahu's an honarable mention, and that's pretty much as high as he's going.

If you asked me a year or two ago, I probably would have Cameron ahead of Hollande and Aquino, but his stock is slipping. Give it another six to eight months and Renzi or Obama replaces him on The List.