How Many Leaders do you Know?

[bcholmes]

So I caught a bit of news, and saw Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (talking about Japan's role with respect to "comfort women") and I thought: "Japan has a new Prime Minister?" So, off to Wikipedia: sure enough, as of September 26th, 2006, Japan has a new Prime Minister.

Then I was thinking: how many world leaders can I recognize? I can at least recognize the leaders of the G8 countries (although I'd probably fumble the name of the Italian Prime Minister if he's out of the news for a bit). I'd also recognize (but might fumble names) for Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, John Howard, Jalal Talibani, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Kim Jong Il, Rene Preval, and I'd fumble a bit before remembering Mahmoud Abbas' name. I knew that Vicente Fox and Ariel Sharon had been succeeded, but couldn't recognize or name their successors without looking them up. Nor would I have been able to name Mandela's successor of the last seven years. I could name Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, but not Prime Minister Balkenende.

I know essentially no African political leaders, few European leaders (especially in Eastern Europe), and only one South American leader. Hm.

Comments

Re: How Many Leaders do you Know?

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

yeah, my own list is similarly sparse, though it contains some different names, *sigh*. used to be much better when i read the economist regularly, but news depresses me so much these days that i feel better off just ignoring it. and so i mostly casually keep in touch only with government changes in countries to which i have some sort of emotional tie (i've lived there, or am particularly interested in the culture).

[kat-chan.livejournal.com]

The other South American leaders that I know for certain are Lula da Silva (Brazil) and Evo Morales (Bolivia). I know Mugabe (Zimbabwe), Bemba (Uganda, I believe), Idriss Deby (Chad) and Mbeke (South Africa) from Africa. I know that Poland as the Kascynski (sp?) twins as president and PM. I'd probably have to think for a bit the Czech leader, and probably still couldn't come up with it. And I know that Fox was succeeded by Felipe Calderon (in a contested, some say stolen, election) and that Sharon's successor is Ehud Olmert. And I'm surprised you didn't mention Hamid Kharzai (Afghanistan) in there, since he was in the news this week (when Cheney was targeted by the Taliban, as much as the US government tries to downplay that). Oh, and I think I could come up with most of the Middle Eastern leaders, like Mubarek, King Abdullah (one in Jordan, the other in Saudi Arabia), and Bashir Assad. But I think I'm in the 99th percentile of Americans who are aware of world leaders. Even George Bush didn't know many until after he became president. Remember that interview where he couldn't name more than two or three leaders during the 2000 primaries?

And Americans wonder why they're so despised around the world...

Oh, and I always try to call Kim Jong Il by his father's name (Kim Il Sung). The one name you mentioned that I couldn't place was Rene Preval, but I'd imagine he is the leader of Haiti?

[hmms-sio.livejournal.com]

I could name Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, but not Prime Minister Balkenende.

Don't worry 'bout JP (Balkenende). Nobody can name him other than Harry Potter.

This is rather...

[laura-seabrook.livejournal.com]

..."uneven" isn't it?

What I mean is, that the media is rather lopsided in its coverageof overseas events in Australia, and probably is as well in Canada too. I can't think of a single day when there hasn't been a news story on TV (or radio) that's mentioned/shown the current President of the U.S.A. It's a bit like the OPPOSITE of that scene from the film BUckaroo Banzai:

RADAR BLAZE 2 (ED) comes in, walks up to BUCKAROO BANZAI.

RADAR BLAZE 2 (ED):

President's calling, Buckaroo.

BUCKAROO BANZAI:

(distracted)
The president of what?

RADAR BLAZE 2 (ED):

The President of the United States.

BUCKAROO BANZAI:

Oh.
(gives rock to PERFECT TOMMY)
Here.

PERFECT TOMMY:

Later.

Now of course we probably all know the names (if not the faces) of the leaders of our own countries, but sometimes that's deceptive. For example, I know that John Howard is our PM here, but I really couldn't tell you the name of the Governor General, who technically (representing the Queen) is our head of state.

Knowledge of leaders overseas are probably dependent upon the stability and notoriety that they have. Somebody like Castro, has been around for an awfully long time, and is bound to be shown in the media one way or another. Saddam Hussein when he was still the HOS of Iraq was known because he notorious, and became an opponent of the USA - but who's the HOS of the puppet government in Iraq nowadays? I couldn't tell you the name of the leader in Afganistan, but I could tell you what he looked like, with cape and fur hat, and grey beard.

Hmmm, I wonder if it really matters?