Around 70,000 years ago, Cognitive Revolution took place, in which imaginations and common beliefs allowed humans to collaborate as a larger unit. Around 12,000 years ago, humans started farming and learning to control other lives in the Agricultural Revolution. Around 500 years ago, the Scientific Revolution happened, and objective science emerged. Around 250 years ago, in the Industrial Revolution, humans invented new ways of energy conversions and greatly enlarged the pie of global economy. Today, we are in the dawn of Information Revolution and aim toward the next stage of the Revolution – the Intelligence Revolution. In order to pursue further advancements of our society, political, economic, and technologic supports are vital, and here are the five most influential politicians in the world!
As the President of the United States, the country with the most military and economic power, Donald Trump’s every move has global influence. Unlike most other politicians, Trump has the mindset of a successful businessman. He worked with the Congress to carry out an enormous tax cut to help struggling American Families by taking $167 billion away from the government revenue. He heated the American economy as he brought industries and 2.4 million jobs back into the United States. The unemployment rate fell to 3.9% in the US, breaking the record of the 21st Century. Trump also acted on America’s growing trade deficit with China by raising tariffs and launched one of the largest trade wars in the history to secure the US economy.
Fifty years ago, along with millions of other Chinese young people, Xi Jinping was sent “down to the countryside” for seven years by the government to learn life lessons from the peasant, during which he suffered from hunger and homelessness. But today, he is the most powerful person on the planet. Unlike the President of the United States who is only the head of the Executive Branch out of the three government branches, Xi is the chairman of the world’s most powerful authoritarian regime, the Communist Party of China, since 2012. He has the world’s second-largest economy with 1.4 billion people at hand. Xi has gained popularity equivalent to that of Mao’s through his anti-corruption campaign and One Belt One Road Initiative, in which China invested $4 to $8 trillion dollars to less developed Asian and African countries. More importantly, he is now the leader for life.
Moon Jae-in, the President of South Korea, is currently in a critical position in global politics as a result of North Korean Nuclear Crisis. Since Moon’s presidency in 2017, dramatic progress has been made with regard to Kim Jong Un. Moon values peace. He hosted Kim Jong Un’s sister at the 2018 Winter Olympics, welcomed Kim Jong Un to South Korea for the first time in the history, and more significantly, Moon brokered an unprecedented US-North Korean summit between Trump and Kim. He is now the navigator of North Korea foreign relations even though he is the president of South Korea. If Moon can successfully resolve this nuclear crisis, he can redefine the future of the Korean Peninsula, the U.S., and the world.
Emmanuel Macron, the youngest-ever French President, was once seen as a 39-year-old underdog. He revolutionized French politics as he formed a centrist political party, overturning France’s previous left- and right-wing political system. Macron gave the new government and the people a promise for change. He is reforming French labor laws, creating a better environment for businesses, unifying the asylum system, enhancing social security, and aiming towards a more integrated European Union to promote economic growth and political stability and lower the 10% current unemployment rate. After the U.K.’s exit of the European Union in 2019, Macron’s France will be the only member of the European Union to be a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and to possess nuclear weapons. Refugees, terrorism, climate change, inequalities are troubling France, and Macron promised to deliver a multilateral solution.
Angela Merkel, the first-ever female chancellor of Germany, was ranked at the top of the most powerful women list by Forbes. She has been in office for nearly 13 years, during which Europe has suffered many financial crises. Unlike the majority of European leaders, Merkel successfully stopped the recession of German economy by introducing economic stimulating policies and shortened working hours.