Barack Obama...

In third place, new Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou.  Since taking power in May, Ma has aggressively perused closer economic and people-to-people ties with the mainland.  This week, Ma’s goodwill diplomacy resulted in a historic deal that will see a major expansion of direct flights and shipping between Taiwan and China.   Ma’s quiet diplomacy has also been viewed favourably in Washington, after years in which increasing Chinese-US interdependence made the US-Taiwanese relationship more tense.

In second place, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.  This week Medvedev brokered a joint declaration by the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia in an effort to reach a settlement over the status of the breakaway territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.   While the declaration offers no concrete steps for a coming to a resolution, it does represent public relations triumph for Medvedev.   In the aftermath of its recent war with Georgia, Russia is keen to portray itself as an ‘honest broker’ in this most intractable of frozen conflicts -- even if its close ties with Armenia might suggest otherwise to cynics.

In first place is (of course), US President-elect Barack Obama.  This week, Obama swept to victory in the US presidential election, securing a landslide in the Electoral College by winning almost all the so-called swing states.  His victory marks the culmination of an epic campaign that was punctuated by a series of masterstrokes. Notable amongst these was his unforgettable oration on race, given as a means of calming the storm over his relationship with controversial pastor Jeremiah Wright.  However, when the history the election campaign is written, perhaps the most significant event will be identified as his unwavering reaction to the financial crisis in September, which saw him pass his rival in the opinion polls and never look back.