the world's most popular intelectuals

8/3/2019 The World's Most Popular Intelectuals

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The Worlds Top 20 Public Intellectuals

In our last issue, we named the worlds top 100 public intellectuals and asked readers to vote for those they deem mostdeserving of the top honors. Now, 500,000 votes later, we reveal the results of the reader poll. Plus, members of the Top 100name the intellectuals they believe should have made the list.

Rankings are an inherently dangerous business. Whether offering a hierarchy of countries, cities, or colleges, any such listat least any such list worth compilingis likely to generate a fair amount of debate. In the last issue, when we asked readersto vote for their picks of the worlds top public intellectuals, we imagined many people would want to make their opinionsknown. But no one expected the avalanche of voters who came forward. During nearly four weeks of voting, more than500,000 people came to ForeignPolicy.com to cast ballots.

Such an outpouring reveals something unique about the power of the men and women we chose to rank. They were includedon our initial list of 100 in large part because of the influence of their ideas. But part of being a public intellectual is alsohaving a talent for communicating with a wide and diverse public. This skill is certainly an asset for some who findthemselves in the lists top ranks. For example, a number of intellectualsincluding Aitzaz Ahsan, Noam Chomsky,Michael Ignatieff, and Amr Khaledmounted voting drives by promoting the list on their Web sites. Others issued pressreleases or gave interviews to local newspapers. Press coverage profiling these intellectuals appeared around the world, withstories running in Canada, India, Indonesia, Qatar, Spain, and elsewhere.

No one spread the word as effectively as the man who tops the list. In early May, the Top 100 list was mentioned on thefront page of Zaman, a Turkish daily newspaper closely aligned with Islamic scholar Fethullah Glen. Within hours, votesin his favor began to pour in. His supporterstypically educated, upwardly mobile Muslimswere eager to cast ballots noonly for their champion but for other Muslims in the Top 100. Thanks to this groundswell, the top 10 public intellectuals inthis years reader poll are all Muslim. The ideas for which they are known, particularly concerning Islam, differsignificantly. Its clear that, in this case, identity politics carried the day.

FETHULLAH GLEN

Religious leader Turkey

An Islamic scholar with a global network of millions of followers, Glen is both revered and reviled in his native Turkey.To members of the Glen movement, he is an inspirational leader who encourages a life guided by moderate Islamicprinciples. To his detractors, he represents a threat to Turkeys secular order. He has kept a relatively low profile sincesettling in the United States in 1999, having fled Turkey after being accused of undermining secularism.

MUHAMMAD YUNUS

Microfinancier, activist Bangladesh

More than 30 years ago, Yunus loaned several dozen poor entrepreneurs in his native Bangladesh a total of $27. It was thebeginning of a lifetime devoted to fighting poverty through microfinance, efforts that earned him a Nobel Peace Prize in2006. Over the years, his Grameen Bank, now operating in more than 100 countries, has loaned nearly $7 billion in smallsums to more than 7 million borrowers97 percent of them women. Ninety-eight percent of the loans have been repaid.

YUSUF AL-QARADAWI
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/http://www.foreignpolicy.com/


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Cleric Egypt/Qatar

The host of the popular Sharia and Life TV program on Al Jazeera, Qaradawi issues w .eekly fatwas on everything fromwhether Islam forbids all consumption of alcohol (no) to whether fighting U.S. troops in Iraq is a legitimate form ofresistance (yes). Considered the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Qaradawi condemned the September 11attacks, but his pronouncements since, like his justification of suicide attacks, ensure his divisive reputation.

ORHAN PAMUK

Novelist Turkey

Part political pundit, part literary celebrity, Pamuk is the foremost chronicler of Turkeys difficult dance between East andWest. His skillfully crafted works lay bare his native countrys thorny relationship with religion, democracy, and modernityearning him a Nobel Prize in literature in 2006. Three years ago, Pamuk was put on trial for insulting Turkish identityafter mentioning the Armenian genocide and the plight of Turkeys Kurds in an interview. The charges were later dropped.Today, Pamuk teaches literature at Columbia University.

AITZAZ AHSAN

Lawyer, politician Pakistan

President of Pakistans Supreme Court Bar Association, Ahsan has been a vocal opponent of President Pervez Musharrafsrule. When Musharraf dismissed the head of the Supreme Court in March 2007, it was Ahsan who led the legal challenge toreinstate the chief justice and rallied thousands of lawyers who took to the streets in protest. He was arrested several timesduring the period of emergency rule last year. Today, he is a senior member of the Pakistan Peoples Party, formerly led byBenazir Bhutto, and one of the countrys most recognizable politicians.

AMR KHALED

Muslim televangelist Egypt

A former accountant turned rock-star evangelist, Khaled preaches a folksy interpretation of modern Islam to millions ofloyal viewers around the world. With a charismatic oratory and casual style, Khaled blends messages of cultural integrationand hard work with lessons on how to live a purpose-driven Islamic life. Although Khaled got his start in Egypt, he recentlymoved to Britain to counsel young, second-generation European Muslims.

ABDOLKARIM SOROUSH

Religious theorist Iran

Soroush, a former university professor in Tehran and specialist in chemistry, Sufi poetry, and history, is widely considered

one of the worlds premier Islamic philosophers. Having fallen afoul of the mullahs thanks to his work with Iransdemocratic activists, he has lately decamped to Europe and the United States, where his essays and lectures on religiousphilosophy and human rights are followed closely by Irans reformist movement.

TARIQ RAMADAN

Philosopher, scholar of Islam Switzerland


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One of the most well-known and controversial Muslim scholars today, Ramadan embodies the cultural and religious clashhe claims to be trying to bridge. His supporters consider him a passionate advocate for Muslim integration in Europe. Hiscritics accuse him of anti-Semitism and having links to terrorists. In 2004, Ramadan was denied a U.S. visa to teach at NotreDame, after the State Department accused him of donating to Islamic charities linked to Hamas.

MAHMOOD MAMDANI

Cultural anthropologist Uganda

Born in Uganda to South Asian parents, Mamdani was expelled from the country by Idi Amin in 1972, eventually settling inthe United States. His work explores the role of citizenship, identity, and the creation of historical narratives in postcolonialAfrica. More recently, he has focused his attention on political Islam and U.S. foreign policy, arguing that modern Islamistterrorism is a byproduct of the privatization of violence in the final years of the Cold War. He teaches at ColumbiaUniversity.

SHIRIN EBADI

Lawyer, human rights activist Iran

Irans first female judge under the shah, Ebadi founded a pioneering law practice after she was thrown off the bench byIrans clerical rulers. Having initially supported the Islamic Revolution, she cut her teeth defending political dissidents andcampaigning for the rights of women and children. A fierce nationalist who sees no incompatibility between Islam anddemocracy, Ebadi became the first Iranian to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003. NOAM CHOMSKY

Linguist, activist United States

Chomsky is perhaps best known for his scathing criticisms of U.S. foreign policy extending back to the Vietnam War. Anoutspoken activist, a lively debater, and an icon of the international left, Chomsky rarely shies away from assailingAmerican power and venerating those he deems the worlds oppressed. The failures of American mass media and the greed

of big business are also frequent targets of his critiques. Beyond his political provocations, Chomskys contributions tomodern linguistics are immense, particularly his theory of generative grammar. The bestselling author of more than 30books, Chomsky has taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for more than half a century.

AL GORE

Climate change activist, politician United States

From the dejection of losing the 2000 U.S. presidential election, Gore has come to define political renaissanceandvindicationin the years since. For his second act, Gore found his true voice in raising public awareness of the effects ofglobal warming. His efforts have earned him an impressive list of titlesOscar winner and Nobel Peace Prize recipientamong themand acclaim as perhaps todays most influential environmental crusader.

BERNARD LEWIS

Historian Britain/United States

Professor emeritus at Princeton University and the author of dozens of books, Lewis is one of the foremost historians of theMiddle East. He is also one of the most sought-after advisors on the regions politics and on Islamic society. Lewiss works


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have recently focused on the source of antagonism between Islam and the West, a conflict he attributes to Islams failure toadapt to modernity.

UMBERTO ECO

Novelist, semiologist Italy

Renowned for intricate, richly written novels that blend obscure historical events with complex plots and symbols, Eco iseasily one of the worlds most scholarly writers of fiction. His day job, professor of semiotics at the University of Bologna,provides him ample material for his bestselling books, which have been described as encyclopedic in their historicabreadth.

AYAAN HIRSI ALI

Activist, politician Somalia/Netherlands

A fierce critic of Islams treatment of women, the Somalia-born Hirsi Ali is known for her full-throated defense of the West

reason, and freedom. Her public rebellion against her Islamic upbringing has come with a steep cost: death threats andaround-the-clock protection. She first received notoriety for penning Submission, a film renouncing the subjugation oMuslim women. (The films director, Theo van Gogh, was murdered by a Muslim fanatic in Amsterdam in 2004.) Afterbeing elected to the Dutch parliament in 2003, Hirsi Ali resigned her post three years later over a scandal involving falseinformation on her citizenship application.

AMARTYA SEN

Development economist India

As a young boy, Sen witnessed the devastating 1943 Bengal famine, which killed nearly 3 million people. Decades later,Sens investigations of the political and economic underpinnings of famines established him as the premier welfare

economist of the 20th century. In addition to his famous assertion that famines do not occur in democracies, Sen was one ofthe first economists to empirically examine gender disparities in Asia. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics in1998.

FAREED ZAKARIA

Journalist, author United States

Editor of Newsweek International, Zakaria is one of the most influential and respected commentators on internationaaffairs. His article Why Do They Hate Us? a Newsweek cover story in the weeks after the September 11 attacks, upendedthe conventional explanations of the day for a nuanced discussion of the economic, political, and social forces pullingIslamic societies apart.

GARRY KASPAROV

Democracy activist, chess grandmaster Russia

One of the greatest chess players of all time, Kasparov is today a leading opposition figure in Russia, critical of VladimirPutins tenure and the election of his successor, Dmitry Medvedev. Agitating against what he calls a police state,


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Kasparov heads the anti-Kremlin coalition The Other Russia, which frequently stages pro-democracy protests. He recentlylaunched an alternative parliament in a bid to unite the countrys opposition.

RICHARD DAWKINS

Biologist, author Britain

One of the worlds preeminent evolutionary biologists, Dawkins established an international reputation with his 1976 workThe Selfish Gene, which holds that genes compete to propagate. He possesses a renowned ability to synthesize andcommunicate complex scientific ideas to the wider public. He is perhaps best known today for his criticism of creationismand religion. An avowed atheist, his most recent bestselling work, The God Delusion, is a vigorous defense of science andreason.

MARIO VARGAS LLOSA

Novelist, politician Peru

A giant of Latin American literature, Vargas Llosa has written dozens of works of fiction, drama, and literary criticism inhis decades-long career. He is a firm believer in literatures power to expose the injustice and tyranny of dictatorships, whileproviding moving defenses of free speech and individual liberty. He writes frequently on political issues in widely publishedcolumns.

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