Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, Buddhist spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and Pakistan army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who controls the the country’s nuclear weapons,have been ranked among the 50 most powerful people in the world by Newsweek.
From the magazine’s cover story by Jon Meacham headlined “The Story of Power”:
In the popular imagination, power tends to be viewed in one of two ways, both extreme. The first is totemic and tactical (how to get ahead at the office, to win friends and influence people). The other is epic and amorphous (the fate of markets, of vast global events and forces that seem beyond anyone’s control, but especially yours).
Power is both these things, and more. At heart, it is best understood in terms of command and control. It is either the capacity to make others do as you wish (the command function) or to reorder the environment around you (the control function).
No. 1 on the power list is Barack Obama, followed by Chinese President Hu Jintao, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Markel and powerful Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Sonia Gandhi is at No. 17. “In the world’s largest democracy, she is the queen,” says Newsweek. Gen. Kayani is at No. 20 and ‘King of Bollywood’ Shah Rukh Khan at No.41.
Click here for Newsweek’s full and list and for their profiles.
