The Most Powerful Women In Politics, 2012

Source: Forbes

For the second year running, three of the top five women on FORBES list of the world’s 100 most powerful women are politicians. In the list as a whole, 19 politicians hold court, including eight heads of state. It wasn’t a U.S. election year, which explains the exit of the Tea Party candidates who wielded considerable power in 2011, but overall more than half of the political returnees from last year’s list shot considerably up the rankings.
What does this say about the changing dynamic of women in politics around the world? In the words of former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, a little something like this: “People say there are not enough qualified women, that’s one of the biggest bullshit things I’ve ever heard.”

At the top of the list German Chancellor Angela Merkel reigns supreme as the pre-eminent leader of the European Union. Her hold over the economic future of the eurozone (current GDP $17.9 trillion) was made crystal clear this year. As world leaders took turns portending the end of the Euro as currency, Merkel is fighting tooth and nail to keep it in circulation—and the economies of her fellow EU nations afloat. Germany has been behind the Greek bailout, the capitalizing of Spain’s banks and more, but in 2012 stressed the nation’s inability to bail out more declining nations and rejected proposals of pooling national debts to stave off further defaults. The way things stand, what Merkel (commonly referred to as the “Iron Lady” of Europe) says–goes.
Just behind her, falling for the second year at No. 2 on the list is U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, fourth in line to the succession of the U.S. Presidency. As the world ambassador of the largest single economy on earth, Clinton has advanced U.S. interests and policies overseas while pushing women’s issues, development and education to the top of the foreign policy agenda. Greta Van Susteren, a fellow Power Woman and friend of Clinton’s told me last year that her notoriety on the international stage is unparalleled, and makes her different from any of her predecessors. “[Clinton] might as well be the President of the United States,” she said. “The whole world knows her.”

Read more: http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2012/08/22/most-powerful-women-in-politics-2012-angela-merkel-hillary-clinton/