The Year in War and Peace: World Leaders Prove Era of Visionaries Over Tony Karon - Al Jazerra
go to original December 31, 2013

President Obama found himself in some tense exchanges with Russian President Vladimir Putin, lower left, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)

The passing of Nelson Mandela on Dec. 5 confirmed a grim reality about global leadership in 2013: The era of visionaries is over; most countries today are ruled by technocrats whose ambitions don't stretch much beyond tinkering with the status quo. From Barack Obama (soaring oratory notwithstanding) and Angela Merkel to Vladimir Putin and Xi Xinping, Dilma Roussef, Manmohan Singh and beyond, government today is in the hands of men and women who promise stability, security and efficiency rather than profound transformation. And 2013 offered a number of reminders that even when they put their heads together, they appear collectively incapable of responding effectively to the global perils of war, poverty and climate change.

Pope Francis sounded a lone voice of conscience in the global conversation insisting that we cannot reconcile ourselves with the prevailing socio-economic order that enriches a few but leaves the multitude in poverty. But it was not only the vision deficit that made 2013 a morbid year on the global stage; there was also a growing power vacuum. The waning of U.S. authority and influence has been evident throughout the debacles of Afghanistan and Iraq, and even the U.S. public now embraces a reduced global role for Washington.The White House and Pentagon have no appetite for military adventures, and America’s newfound energy self-sufficiency reduces the long-term importance of the Middle East to the U.S. national interest. Washington’s impact was most notable for its absence as the troubled region passed another difficult year.But if President Obama seemed unable to project authority abroad, the same was true at home: A dollar-dependent world watched aghast as the growing political paralysis in Washington rendered the world’s most important economy increasingly ungovernable, possibly even unreliable, and fueled increased urgency in the search for alternatives to a dollar-based global financial system.

On the geopolitical front, longstanding allies such as Israel and Saudi Arabia appear more willing than ever to openly challenge and defy Washington’s Middle East policy, and there were diplomatic setbacks as Obama fell foul of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Brazilian President Dilma Roussef after whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed the NSA had been spying on these friendly powers — the Brazilian leader’s pique may even have cost Boeing a $4.5 billion aircraft deal.

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