Mikheil Saakashvili started 2004 off by winning 96 percent of the vote in Georgia’s presidential election. Since then he has moved to reduce poverty, end corruption and unify his fractured state. But he refuses to bring wayward provinces South Ossetia and Abkhazia back into the fold through violence, vowing: “Georgia is fully committed to solving these conflicts through solely peaceful means. Georgia will not and cannot use violence to solve these conflicts because no democracy can go to war against its own people.”



Howard Dean’s opposition to the war in Iraq changed the tone of American politics. He unabashedly brought the anti-war position into the mainstream and re-energized voters who were sick of Democrats parroting Republican positions. While he didn’t end up getting the Democratic nomination to run for president, he did provide more space for politicians of all stripes to think critically about the war.



Since Brazilian president Luis Inácio Lula da Silva gets slammed from both left and right, he must be on the correct track. And his foreign policy is particularly bold. He has become the ringleader of a Southern hemispheric bulwark against American and European domination. Back home, he has regained much of the support he lost after some policies alienated poor voters. His Worker’s Party fared well in nationwide municipal elections in October 2004 – the first electoral test since he took office. Now, thanks to a revitalized mandate, 2005 could be Lula’s most productive year yet.