10 Powerful People to Know: OZY’s 100

This 76-year-old has been the president of Eritrea since its 1991 independence, and yet not a single citizen has ever voted for him. And why would they? It’s been years of crushing despotism, where torture is routine, prisons are overstuffed and the inmates are often there for political reasons.

Condoleezza Rice has called him “Europe’s last dictator,” and he’s playing his role to the hilt. President of Belarus for more than two decades, Lukashenko has ruled the former Soviet state with an iron fist that would make the Kremlin proud. He censors the press, sends human rights activists to labor camps and gets rid of political rivals, either by throwing them in jail or, in the case of his former prime minister and head of the opposition, making them disappear.

Mswati has used his concentrated power in Eswatini, the last absolute monarchy in Africa, to feed his every despotic need. For one, he is reported to force young women to marry him whenever the spirit moves him. This despot, who became king at 18, has many wives and an indefinite number of luxury cars. He may cut a cartoonish figure, but his corrupt ways are no laughing matter.

Some call him the Latin American Karl Rove. A Venezuelan living in exile in Florida, J.J. Rendón hates socialism with a passion — and the political strategist has promoted the right and done battle with leftists across Latin America. He doesn’t always win (see: Mexico’s Andrés Manuel López Obrador), but he’s built up an impressive roster of presidents (see: Colombia’s Juan Manuel Santos).

Mbacké is the key mediator between the Senegalese government and the millions-strong Mouride Sufi brotherhood, one of Senegal’s biggest Sunni brotherhoods. And even though Mbacké does not hold an official post, just about any project around the holy city of Touba runs through him.

Varga, Hungary’s justice minister, is the telegenic face of Viktor Orbán’s government as it clashes with Europe, and her stalwart advocacy is upending gender politics in Hungary. The tall Fidesz politician is media savvy and has broadcast her many talents to the world.

Despite not being an economist, Gurumurthy managed to become a director of the Reserve Bank of India and one of the most important voices driving economic policy in India. He was the key hidden voice behind the nation’s controversial 2016 “demonetization” of high-value banknotes.