Rafael Correa
President, Ecuador

This left-leaning, rakish Ecuadorean is an economist educated in the US and a former finance minister elected to office in January 2007. Cozying up to Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez may not have helped his popularity in the US, but the boyish President Correa remains fairly popular at home.

Despite his background in economics, President Correa has been a critic of capitalism–especially the International Monetary Fund and Ecuador’s sovereign debt holders–long before that came into its recent vogue, making him something of a political trendsetter.

Correa has also proved quite adept at the art of the political putdown. When Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez called then-President George W. Bush “the devil,” Correa quipped “Calling Bush the devil is offending the devil.” He added, “The devil is evil, but intelligent.”

Jens Stoltenberg
Prime Minister, Norway

Norway’s Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg, previously held positions including Environment Minister, Industry Minister and Finance Minister in previous Norwegian governments and became the country’s head of state for more than a year in 2000-2001. His Labour party led a left-ish coalition to victory in 2005, which put him back into the Prime Minister’s office.

And in a scandal sure to polish his 21st-century technophile bonafides, Prime Minister Stoltenberg was also the victim of a Wikipedia scandal wherein his entry was appended to include the (untrue) smear that he was a convicted pedophile, among other rather vicious lies.

Next up are a rugged man’s man and a glamorous woman’s woman who both happen to run countries you probably know. Click here for Page 4.