【外交政策 201411】破碎的世界：2014百大思考者 － 挑战者

满仓

【中文标题】破碎的世界：2014百大思考者 － 挑战者
【原文标题】A World Disrupted: The Leading Global Thinkers of 2014
【登载媒体】外交政策
【原文链接】http://globalthinkers.foreignpolicy.com/




2014年，大规模的抗议出现在世界的每一个角落。在基辅、香港、加拉加斯，由充满激情的人们所领导的抗议挑战强大的国家机器，期望着为国家和人民铺就一条崭新的道路。同样，人们推动苏格兰从英国的独立，曝光硅谷精英的劣行，还用严苛、昂贵的21世纪版本金融政策吓退了那些大银行。尽管他们的目标和手段不能让所有人接受，但这些全球思考者是不知疲倦的人。


戴耀廷，黄之锋
“让爱与和平占领中环”联合创始人，“学民思潮”联合创始人，中国

“让北京冒汗。”

香港，曾经的英帝国战利品和现在的中国金融中心，正在经历几十年来最严重的政治动荡。北京为此主要谴责两个人：香港大学教授戴耀廷和大学新生黄之锋。

从去年9月开始，数千名——有时候数万名——学生、工人和活动人士走上街头，抗议中国政府拒绝香港的民主进程。戴的组织“让爱与和平占领中环”为抗议者提供了理论支持，黄是香港最重要的学生运动“学民思潮”的年轻、富有魅力的领袖。黄和各年龄段的盟友的目标是，保留一个与中国分离的身份。

截止到目前，抗议依然在持续，但似乎很快就会瓦解，或者被瓦解。但是，戴和黄向世人证明，可以对北京说不，即使只有那么一两个月。


特塔亚娜•乔尔纳沃尔
记者，乌克兰

“不顾一切记录乌克兰的腐败行为。”

危险永远无法阻止特塔亚娜•乔尔纳沃尔。这位专门报道政府腐败行为的乌克兰记者，在2013年12月发表了一篇博客，说时任内政部长的维塔利•扎哈尔琴科拥有一座公馆，之后遭到了几个身份不明男人的殴打。她的脸几乎都已经变形，乔尔纳沃尔依然无畏地谴责她调查的另一个对象——总统维克多•亚努科维奇。她说这次袭击是总统亲自下令，而且她还会继续调查腐败的官员。

亚努科维奇在2014年2月逃离乌克兰之后，乔尔纳沃尔加入了这个国家新成立的反腐败机构，但随后辞职，因为她认为这个组织缺少“针对腐败行为采取更激进、更大规模措施的政治意愿”。9月份，她成为新内政部长的顾问。

艰难困苦未能让她退缩。乔尔纳沃尔的丈夫，一位支持基辅的右派战士于8月份在乌克兰东部战死。她在一份网络报纸上写到：“自由还是死亡，我们已经做出了选择。”


托马斯•皮克迪
经济学家，法国

“在新的镀金时代，搞出了一些数据。”

被称为“摇滚明星”的法国经济学家托马斯•皮克迪的见解，可以被简单地表述成数学公式：r>g。即资本回报率往往会高于经济增长率，于是资本会持续累加到资本持有人的手中。

皮克迪收集了庞大的税收数据，形成了最广为人知的财富集中化的历史数据，并且表明美国和欧洲已经进入了一个新的镀金时代，其财富不均的程度达到一战后的最高点。皮克迪在《21世纪资本论》中阐述的这些观点，恰恰是后工业时代和金融化经济造成的不平等所表现出的一种焦虑。这本书在今年盘踞畅销榜首几个星期，而且在数个月的时间里，占据了两片大陆居民的晚餐话题。


奥里奥尔•容克拉斯/亚历克斯•萨蒙德
独立主义领导人，西班牙/英国

“给古老的帝国带来新鲜的气息。”

欧洲的分裂主义者在当今是饱受围攻的一群人。欧洲的近代史就是各个国家不顾一切拥抱欧盟的历史。在一个金融全球化的年代，呼吁自治和分裂似乎是一个不合时宜的举动。但是在加泰罗尼西亚和苏格兰，民族主义独立运动在2014年令人难以置信地高涨，不禁让人重新思考欧洲不断强化的集中力量。

苏格兰独立公投的结果是依然留在英国，但是由苏格兰首席部长亚历克斯•萨蒙德所领导的独立运动获得了威斯敏斯特和首相大卫•卡梅伦罕见的让步。尽管苏格兰人没有收获最终的独立，但是他们对于自己的事务必然比以往有了更多的话语权。
在加泰罗尼西亚，共和党左派领导人奥里奥尔•容克拉斯促使该地区总统阿图尔•马斯公然对抗马德里，要求独立，或者至少更大的政治经济自治权。马德里坚决不同意加泰罗尼西亚的要求，截止到目前，双方态度转化为一个象征性的公投，但西班牙法院在11月4日表示需要进一步审查。分裂主义的火焰依然在西班牙经济最发达的地区燃烧。


玛丽娜•勒庞
政客，法国

“让法国极右派出人头地。”

5月26日，法国选民意识到总理曼纽尔•瓦尔斯所谓的“地震”代表了什么。玛丽娜•勒庞利用形象攻势和恰到好处的时机领导她的极右派政党“国民阵线”，在欧洲议会选举中取得了历史性的胜利。她获得了超过法国全体选民25％的投票，压过目前受欢迎程度不断下降的两个主要政党得票数。9月，国民阵线继续赢得了法国参议院的多数席位。

勒庞精明地让自己与反犹太主义的父亲、前国民阵线领导人保持距离，把党派转变成一个政治混乱环境中的避风港。她鄙视种族主义，反对强烈的反移民思潮，在布鲁塞尔的大环境中磨炼自己的演讲技能。勒庞已经成为欧洲极右派的代表人物，一股重要的反欧盟力量，他们借此成为有力的政治位置争夺者。


库尔德斯坦的女战士
战士，伊拉克/叙利亚

“她们捍卫的不只是国土。”

伊斯兰国士兵在今年横扫叙利亚和伊拉克的大片地区，库尔德士兵与他们正面抗衡。在反抗军中有数千名女性战士，包括来自伊拉克库尔德人的“库尔德自由斗士”和叙利亚的“保卫人民联盟”。

西方媒体对这些女人佩服得五体投地，但是她们的卓越不仅仅是因为战场上的性别，对这些战士来说，伊斯兰国仅仅是战争的对象之一。

尽管中东的库尔德地区通常被认为在性别政策上比较开明，但是并不是所有的地方都如此。尤其是在伊拉克，女性在政府成员中所占比例非常有限，离婚被认为是女性的耻辱，有些农村家庭依然有“荣誉杀害”的现象（译者注：家庭男性成员以捍卫家庭荣誉为由，杀害被他们认为与男子有不正当关系的女性家庭成员）。在很多女人看来，库尔德武装机构提供的避风港是抵制这种父权制度的一个途径。士兵们不仅需要有文化，而且在军事训练中也包括政治和人权的教育。

库尔德自由斗士指挥官纳西达•艾哈迈德•拉希德在接受美国公共广播电台的采访时说：“她们拿起武器，走上战场，取保卫库尔德斯坦，而且她们要求男女平等。”


阿纳特•阿德马蒂
经济学家，帕罗奥图，加利福尼亚

“监管全球银行业的监管者。”

在全球金融危机爆发的6年之后，世界上的大型银行并没有太大的变化。先是被次级抵押贷款所拖累，然后由纳税人帮助解套，银行的投资需求依然低得可笑（主要是由于监管业的要求）。在斯坦福大学商学院教授阿纳特•阿德马蒂看来，这依然是全球金融业中很大一部分的制度危机。

阿德马蒂认为，银行的运营资金基本上来自由政府扶持的债务，而不是依赖贷款。银行应当更好地效仿其它公司，采取更平衡的证券业和债务组合来获取运营资金。华盛顿或许会赞同，她和其他人合著的《银行的新衣：银行业存在的问题及应对方式》引起了巴拉克•奥巴马总统的关注。她在参议员银行委员会前作证，美联储副主席斯坦利•费希尔称赞她的改革摄像。当下一次金融危机来袭时，这或许会大幅降低政府的贷款金额。


本杰明•劳斯基
监管者，纽约

“狂野的华尔街私家侦探。”

尽管2008年的金融危机造成了巨大的破坏，而且有证据显示银行业高管牵涉其中，但是华尔街的CEO们从未身陷囹圄。但是现在，一度无所作为的纽约州督察机构终于开始不遗余力地追查大型银行。

纽约州金融服务厅督察长——本杰明•劳斯基——指责瑞信帮助美国人逃税。5月，这位银行业的大佬罕见地认罪服法。劳斯基还抨击渣打银行为伊朗洗钱的行为，8月份，由于渣打没有做出足够的改善行为，他开出了3亿美元的罚单。他目前正在试图规范纽约虚拟货币公司的运营方式。

作为一名州政府官员，劳斯基被人指责插手联邦督察机构的事务，但是联邦机构往往缺乏创造性。劳斯基根本不害怕与大银行对着干，甚至威胁要取消他们在纽约州的营业执照。


莱奥波尔多•洛佩斯
“人民意志”领导人，委内瑞拉

“扭转委内瑞拉忠诚反对派的战略。”

委内瑞拉反对派“人民意志”党领导人莱奥波尔多•洛佩斯是加拉加斯的心腹大患。2014年初发生的反政府示威的牵头人洛佩斯，呼吁他的支持者走上街头，高举“#LaSalida”的标语，意思是“出路”。数千人聚集在街头，要求政府出台新政应对高犯罪率、通货膨胀和食物短缺等问题。示威者与警察发生暴力冲突，导致4人死亡（后来统计的死亡人数达到40人）。政府因此谴责洛佩字为恐怖分子，在2月18日将其逮捕。他目前身在狱中，将面临13年的监禁，罪名是试图推翻尼古拉斯•马杜罗总统。

尽管马杜罗的很多批评者更愿意与政府展开对话，探讨委内瑞拉的前途，但是洛佩斯的激进行为也引起了共鸣。根据最新的民意调查，49％的国民对他表示认可，这让身陷囹圄的他成为委内瑞拉反对派中最受欢迎的人物。


图利•玛当塞拉
保民官，南非

“恩将仇报。”

当南非总统雅各布•祖马在2009年任命她为保民官的时候，他没有预料到自己在图利•玛当塞拉强大的意志和精明的策略前颜面扫地。

玛当塞拉巧妙地运用职权的便利，无论是毫不留情地空开丑闻，还是采取耳边悄悄话的方式，让自己成为无畏的斗士。3月份，她发布了一份详细的报告，目标就是祖马。根据南非新闻网站《每日新意》的报告，这份报告触及了“无人敢于染指的领域”。报告中提到，祖马在政府改造资金中不当得利，把2300万美元用来添置房产。

玛当塞拉的反腐败运动让她赢得了西方的宠爱（10月份，她获得了“透明国际”的正直奖），但是在国内，她的努力遭到了那些最害怕她的人——有权势阶层——的攻击。


素贴•特素班
人民民主改革委员会前主席，泰国

“精心策划泰国最近一次政变。”

作为掌管国家安全的前副总理，素贴•特素班曾经被卷入一系列的丑闻，包括2010年他参与的一次暴力镇压抗议者的行动，导致90余人死亡。但是他在最近一次政治暴动中的成就，完全可以掩盖这些丑闻。2013年底，他鼓动数千人走上曼谷的街道，要求时任总理的英拉•西那瓦辞职，她是被流放的前总理他信•西那瓦的妹妹。素贴的支持者让泰国首都混乱了几个月，最终推翻了英拉政府。

尽管军事大权在握，但素贴的结局颇为凄惨。暴动后上台的军阀随后将他拘禁，他目前在泰国南部过着僧侣的生活，远离曼谷的政治。尽管如此，他的幕后交易手法、他的魅力和口若悬河的演讲术，帮助他根除了所谓的“他信政治机器。”


卡拉•斯威舍
记者，旧金山

“拉开硅谷的窗帘。”

如果说硅谷有一位历史记载者，那非卡拉•斯威舍莫属了。作为多年来的科技业记者，斯威舍当美国在线服务公司还在一个弗吉尼亚汽车经销商后院办公时，就做过相关的报道。如今，全世界科技业的巨擘们都害她揭露肮脏内部的超凡能力。她曾经把Mozilla基金会CEO布兰登•艾奇拉下马，因为他反对同性婚姻。她还在一次会议上，拷问脸书公司的隐私保护政策，让创始人马克•扎克伯格浑身冒汗。

今年，在于默多克新闻集团分手之后，斯威舍成立了一个科技新闻会议公司Re/code。她利用自身的无畏和机智，让消费者有知情权。她还是这个产业中积极的女权主义者，10月份，她在一次会议中说：“你知道，苹果公司是男人的天下。他们管这个产品叫iPhone 6 Plus，可是其实只有5.5英寸。”


侯赛因•艾巴西
工会秘书长，突尼斯

“让突尼斯人说‘是’。”

侯赛因•艾巴西利用巧妙的手段，不知疲倦地联合温和派和伊斯兰教徒，解决了双方根深蒂固的宿怨，并且威胁使用抗议的手段，来确保通过了突尼斯新政治秩序的路线图。如果没有艾巴西，这个国家在1月27日通过的新宪法根本不可能实现。

艾巴西在成为突尼斯最大的工会“突尼斯总工会”秘书长之前，只是一个无名小卒。2013年，他耗费了数百个小时来调查多方的分歧，并最终达成一致意见。路线图导致整个内阁解体，任命了一位新总理，并成立了一个独立的选举委员会。突尼斯是唯一一个在阿拉伯春天之后保持相对稳定的国家，艾巴西功不可没。




原文：

Challengers

Mass protests rocked every corner of the globe in 2014. In Kiev and Bangkok, Hong Kong and Caracas, passionate individuals led movements that defied powerful government institutions in the hope of defining new trajectories for entire countries and populations. Similarly, passionate individuals tested the status quo—and some sacred cows—by pushing for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom, exposing the cracks (and hot air) among Silicon Valley’s elite, and scaring big banks with a tough, expansive vision of 21st-century financial regulations. Although their goals and tactics may not have been universally lauded, these Global Thinkers were indefatigable.

Benny Tai, Joshua Wong
Co-founder, Occupy Central With Love and Peace; co-founder, Scholarism
|China
For making Beijing sweat.

Hong Kong, once a British imperial prize and now China’s financial center, is experiencing its most acute political tension in decades. And Beijing largely blames two men: Benny Tai, a professor at the University of Hong Kong, and Joshua Wong, a college freshman.

Since late September, thousands—and at times tens of thousands—of students, workers, and activists have taken to the streets, protesting the Chinese government’s resistance to democracy in Hong Kong. Tai’s organization, Occupy Central With Love and Peace, has provided the intellectual framework for the protests; Wong is the youthful, charismatic leader of Hong Kong’s most important student movement, Scholarism. Wong and his allies of all ages aim to preserve and advance an identity that is separate from China’s.

As of press time, the protests are still ongoing, but will likely soon dissolve or be dissolved. Tai and Wong, however, show that one can stand up to Beijing—even if only for a month or two.

Tetyana Chornovol
Journalist
|Ukraine
For risking everything to document Ukraine’s corruption.

Danger was no deterrent for Maidan darling Tetyana Chornovol. A Ukrainian journalist famous for reporting on government corruption, she was beaten by unidentified men in December 2013 after publishing a blog post about a mansion she claimed belonged to then-Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko. With her face battered nearly beyond recognition, Chornovol fearlessly accused President Viktor Yanukovych—another target of her investigations—of ordering the assault and asserted that the attack would not dissuade her from going after crooked officials.

After Yanukovych fled Ukraine in February 2014, Chornovol joined the country’s new anti-corruption task force but later resigned, citing frustration with the lack of “political will … to carry out a hard-edged, large-scale war” against graft. In September, she became an advisor to the new interior minister.

Hardship still fails to daunt her: When Chornovol’s husband, a fighter with the far-right pro-Kiev Azov Battalion, was killed in eastern Ukraine in August, she wrote in an online newspaper, “FREEDOM or death—we made that choice on Maidan.”

Thomas Piketty
Economist
|France
For crunching the numbers on the new Gilded Age.

The insight of Thomas Piketty, the French economist who has, yes, been described as a “rock star,” is a simple mathematical expression: r > g. The rate of return on capital, r, will typically be higher than the rate of economic growth, g. Capital, then, funnels wealth toward those who already have it.

Piketty mined tax data to provide the best-known historical record of wealth concentrations and showed that the United States and Europe have entered a new Gilded Age, with levels of inequality not seen since before World War I. The book in which Piketty sets forth these conclusions—Capital in the Twenty-First Century—is a living symbol of the anxiety this inequality has created in the post-industrial, financialized economy. It spent weeks at the top of best-sellers lists this year, and the book anchored heated dinner-party conversations across two continents for months.

Oriol Junqueras, Alex Salmond
Separatist leaders
|Spain; United Kingdom
For breathing new life into old kingdoms.

European separatists are a beleaguered bunch these days. Europe’s recent history has seen states inexorably smothered by the prosperous, if stifling embrace of the European Union. Add to that a globalized financial system, and calls for self-rule and devolution feel ever more anachronistic. But in Catalonia and Scotland, nationalist independence movements showed a surprising resurgence in 2014 and caused a rethink of the ever-intensifying centralization of power in Europe.

Scotland ended up voting to stay in the United Kingdom, but the country’s independence movement, led by then Scottish National Party chief Alex Salmond, secured hard-fought concessions from Westminster and Prime Minister David Cameron. Although independence didn’t come to the Scots, they likely will now have more say over their own affairs.

In Catalonia, Oriol Junqueras, leader of the Republican Left of Catalonia, has helped push the region’s president, Artur Mas, into a headlong confrontation with Madrid over independence or at least greater political and economic autonomy. Madrid has steadfastly refused to acknowledge Catalonia’s aspirations—which, at press time, had been reduced to a symbolic vote that the Spanish Constitutional Court suspended on Nov. 4—but the separatist fires are still burning in Spain’s economic engine.

Marine Le Pen
Politician
|France
For giving France’s far-right its moment.

On May 26, French voters awoke to what Prime Minister Manuel Valls called “an earthquake.” Marine Le Pen had used image management and opportunistic timing to lead her extreme-right National Front party to a historic victory in the European Parliament elections, taking almost 25 percent of the French vote—more than either of France’s two major parties, whose popularity is dwindling. In September, the National Front went on to win its first-ever French Senate seats.

Le Pen shrewdly distanced herself from her anti-Semitic father, the former National Front leader, and rebranded her party as a refuge from political dysfunction. She voices disdain for racism, despite a heavily anti-immigration platform, and keeps her rhetorical guns trained on Brussels. Le Pen has become something of a standard-bearer for Europe’s far-right, Euroskeptical forces—a model for how they, too, can become serious political contenders.

The Female Fighters of Kurdistan
Combatants
|Iraq, Syria
For defending more than their homeland.

As Islamic State fighters swept through large areas of Syria and Iraq this year, Kurdish forces met them on the front lines. Among those resisting the militants’ advance were thousands of female combatants, including those from the Peshmerga, the armed forces from Iraqi Kurdistan, and Syria’s People’s Protection Units (YPG).

The Western media have obsessed over these women, but their significance goes well beyond their gender on the battlefield. For these fighters, the Islamic State is only one front in a war.

Although Kurdish areas in the Middle East are often perceived to be progressive in their gender politics, that’s not quite the case for some communities, particularly in Iraq, where female representation in government is limited, divorced women are stigmatized, and rural families still resort to honor killings. For many women, Kurdish military institutions offer refuge and are a way to resist this patriarchy. Not only are the soldiers required to be literate, but they are also schooled in politics and human rights as part of their military training.

“They’ve taken up arms and gone to battle to protect Kurdistan,” Col. Nahida Ahmed Rashid, a Peshmerga commander, told PBS, “but also to say that there’s no difference between men and women.”

Anat Admati
Economist
|Palo Alto, Calif.
For watching the watchers of global banking.

Six years after the start of the financial crisis, not that much has changed for the world’s big banks. Burned by subprime investments and then bailed out by taxpayers, banks still face laughably low capital requirements (the necessary holdings mandated by regulators). This, according to Anat Admati, a professor at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, remains the key component of the systemic risk built into the global financial system.

Banks almost exclusively finance their operations through debt backed by governments; but rather than relying on loans, Admati argues, banks should behave more like other companies, relying on a mix of equity and debt to finance their work. Washington might agree: The ideas she and her co-author laid out in their recent book—The Bankers’ New Clothes: What’s Wrong With Banking and What to Do About It—reached President Barack Obama; she testified before the Senate Banking Committee; and Federal Reserve Vice Chair Stanley Fischer has praised her proposed reforms, which could drastically reduce government loans when the next financial crisis rolls around.

Benjamin Lawsky
Regulator
|New York City
For being wild Wall Street’s tin star.

Despite the damage done by the 2008 financial crisis and the evidence implicating bank executives in the economy’s unraveling, no Wall Street CEOs ever saw jail time. But now a once-obscure New York state regulator is finally going after big banks with zeal.

Benjamin Lawsky, head of New York state’s Department of Financial Services, went up against Credit Suisse for helping rich Americans dodge their taxes, and in May the banking giant took the rare step of pleading guilty to criminal wrongdoing. Lawsky also has attacked Standard Chartered for laundering money for Iran, and in August he slapped the bank with a $300 million fine for failing to crack down on such transactions. He’s now working to regulate virtual-currency companies operating in New York.

As a state official, Lawsky has been accused of elbowing in on federal regulators’ turf, but where they have often shown a remarkable lack of initiative, Lawsky hasn’t been afraid to play hardball with big banks, threatening to strip them of their New York banking licenses.

Leopoldo López
Leader, Popular Will
|Venezuela
For upending the tactics of Venezuela’s loyal opposition.

Leopoldo López, the leader of Venezuela’s opposition Popular Will party, is the chief thorn in Caracas’s side. The figurehead of anti-government protests that erupted in early 2014, López called his supporters to the streets with the hashtag #LaSalida, meaning “the way out.” Demanding new policies to combat high crime rates, record inflation, and food shortages, thousands amassed. The scene turned violent when demonstrators clashed with police, leaving four people dead (the death toll would later rise to more than 40). The government, in turn, accused López of terrorism and arrested him on Feb. 18. In jail ever since, he now faces up to 13 years in prison on charges of seeking to topple President Nicolás Maduro.

While many of Maduro’s critics favor dialogue with the current government as Venezuela’s path forward, López’s more confrontational approach has resonated. According to a recent poll, his approval rating has risen above 49 percent. That makes him—even behind bars—the most popular figure in Venezuela’s long-splintered opposition.

Thuli Madonsela
Public protector
|South Africa
For biting the hand that appointed her.

When he appointed her public protector in 2009, South African President Jacob Zuma couldn’t have known that he would wind up at the business end of Thuli Madonsela’s formidable will and tactical wiles.

Since then, Madonsela has deftly wielded the tools of her office, from public shaming to a quiet word in the ear, while building her reputation as a fearless advocate. In March, she issued a fat report aimed at Zuma himself, venturing “where most others fear to tread,” as the South African news site the Daily Maverick put it. The report found that Zuma had unduly benefited from state-funded improvements worth $23 million to his estate.

Madonsela’s anti-corruption crusade makes her a darling of the West (in October, she won Transparency International’s Integrity Award). But at home her efforts have brought insults and scorn from those who fear her most: the powerful.

Suthep Thaugsuban
Former chief, People’s Democratic Reform Committee
|Thailand
For orchestrating Thailand’s latest coup.

A former Thai deputy prime minister for security affairs, Suthep Thaugsuban has been embroiled in a range of scandals, including his role in a violent crackdown on protesters in 2010 that left some 90 people dead. Yet his recent feat of political mobilization may overshadow even that taint. In late 2013, he prompted thousands into Bangkok’s streets to demand the resignation of then-Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, the sister of exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Suthep’s supporters destabilized the capital for months and ultimately helped oust Yingluck’s government.

Although the Thai military remains in power, things didn’t end well for Suthep: The ruling junta briefly detained him following the coup; he now lives as a monk in southern Thailand, far from Bangkok politics. Nevertheless, his backroom dealings, his charisma, and his speechifying helped eradicate what he called the “political machine of Thaksin.”

Kara Swisher
Journalist
|San Francisco
For pulling back the curtain on Silicon Valley.

If there is a scribe of Silicon Valley, it’s Kara Swisher. A longtime technology journalist, Swisher covered AOL back when it was run behind a Virginia car dealership; today she is feared by tech titans the world over for her uncanny ability to expose their dirty laundry. She helped bring down Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich for his opposition to same-sex marriage, and she made Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg squirm during a public interrogation about his company’s privacy practices.

This year, after breaking with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., Swisher launched Re/code, a technology news and conference start-up. Known for her fearlessness and wit, Swisher writes to inform and empower technology consumers. She also has emerged as an outspoken advocate for women in the industry. “You know Apple is run by men when they call it an iPhone 6 Plus and it’s only 5.5 inches,” she said on a panel in early October.

Houcine Abassi
Union leader
|Tunisia
For getting to “Yes” in Tunisia.

Houcine Abassi tirelessly and cunningly unified moderates and Islamists, settling entrenched grudges and using the threat of protests to secure the passage of the road map to Tunisia’s new political order. Without Abassi, the country’s new constitution, signed into law on Jan. 27, may not have been.

Abassi was a political unknown before becoming the secretary-general of one of Tunisia’s most powerful trade unions, the Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail (Tunisian General Labor Union). Then, in 2013, he directed hundreds of hours of arbitration to distill a consensus. The road map led to the dismissal of the entire cabinet, the appointment of a new prime minister, and the creation of an independent election commission. That Tunisia is the only post-Arab Spring country in relatively stable condition can be credited largely to Abassi’s gifts as a unifier.