A Very Long List of What Inspired These Leaders to become the People They Are Today!

President Enrique Peña Nieto (Mexico)

·       Enrique Peña Nieto said that he became interested in politics during elementary school, when he was picked as class leader (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/enrique_pena_nieto/index.html)

·       Around 1981, the fifteen-year-old Peña Nieto had his first direct contact with Mexican politics. He then began delivering propaganda in favor of his relative who was running, a memory Peña Nieto still recalls as the turning point and start of his deep interest in politics. (http://www.excelsior.com.mx/node/830745)

President XI Jinping (China)

·       His father, Xi Zhongxun, was a contributor to bringing about the social revolution and a revolutionary leader. (http://www.rferl.org/content/china-profile-xi-jinping/24764283.html)

·       He rose through China's political ranks swiftly, serving for three years as a provincial governor, then as a provincial Party chief, and in 2007 as Hu Jinato's successor (http://contextchina.com/2012/11/ten-facts-about-chinas-incoming-leader-xi-jinping/)

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (India)

·       He played an important role in helping India's economy while serving as the Minister of Finance.

·       He worked for the United Nations after receiving an Ph.D. from Oxford University.

President Hamid Karzai (Afghanistan)

 Led the resistance during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s (http://news.yahoo.com/facts-afghan-president-hamid-karzai-215600163.html)

·       When the Taliban took control of the country, it offered him the U.N. ambassadorship. He declined and fled to Pakistan when the Taliban began working with foreign terrorists (http://news.yahoo.com/facts-afghan-president-hamid-karzai-215600163.html)

Chancellor Angela Merkel (Germany)

·       Merkel was a member of the Free German Youth, the official youth movement sponsored by the ruling Socialist Unity Party (http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-67682698.html)

·       While a student, she participated in the reconstruction of the ruin of the Moritzbastei, a project students initiated to create their own club and recreation facility on campus, this was something she was passionate about. (http://www.biography.com/people/angela-merkel-9406424)

Prime Minister David Cameron (United Kingdom)

·       Once he became head of Britain's Conservative party, Cameron sought to modernize it and shed its right-wing image (http://www.biography.com/people/david-cameron-39203)

·       In 1991, Cameron began briefing then-Prime Minister John Major, and the following year he was promoted as special adviser to Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont (http://www.biography.com/people/david-cameron-39203)

Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault (France)

·       Ayrault was a member of a movement of young Christians in rural areas (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18070495)

·       He joined the Socialist Party (PS) after the 1971 Epinay Congress during which François Mitterrand took the party leadership (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18070495)

President Dilma Rousseff (Brazil)

·       She became a socialist during her youth, and following the 1964 coup d'état joined various left-wing and Marxist urban guerrilla groups that fought against the military dictatorship. Rousseff was eventually captured and jailed between 1970 and 1972, where she was reportedly tortured (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/31/AR2010103104552.html)

·       Wanting to make a difference for the country she loved, even though they had supposedly tortured her, she still went after becoming a part of the government to make a change for the better (http://www.aboutbrasil.com/modules/brazil-brasil/Quick_facts_About_Brasil_Brazil.php?hoofd=9&sub=50&art=1043)

President Nicolas Maduro Moros (Venezuela)

·       Nicolás Maduro was born on 23 November 1962 in Caracas, Venezuela, the son of a union leader. (http://www.elmundo.com.ve/noticias/actualidad/politica/perfil---nicolas-maduro-cruzo-la-calle.aspx)

·       His first introduction to politics was when he became a member of his high school's student union (http://www.elmundo.com.ve/noticias/actualidad/politica/perfil---nicolas-maduro-cruzo-la-calle.aspx)

King and Prime Minister Abdullah (Saudi Arabia)

·       He is the tenth son of King Abdulaziz (http://www.sciencespo.fr/ceri/)

·       Helped create the Allegiance Authority, a committee of princes who vote on the eligibility of future monarchs and crown princes (http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/28/world/meast/king-abdullah-bin-abdulaziz-al-saud---fast-facts/)

President Hasan Fereidun Ruhani (Iran)

·       As a young cleric Hassan Rouhani started his political activities by following the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini during the beginning of the Iranian Islamist movement (Rouhani, Hassan (2008). Memoirs of Hassan Rouhani; Vol. 1: The Islamic Revolution (in Persian). Tehran, Iran: Center for Strategic Research)

·       In 1965, he began traveling throughout Iran making speeches against the government of the Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, the king of Iran (http://www.biography.com/people/hassan-rouhani-21313175)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Israel)

·       Netanyahu became leader of the Likud party in 1993 and continued working with Likud ever since (http://www.biography.com/people/benjamin-netanyahu-9421908)

·       In 1967, Benjamin went to serve in the Israeli Defense Forces' elite unit, "Sayeret Matkal," and took part in a lot of military operations, including the 1972 rescue of a hijacked Sebana airplane (http://www.biography.com/people/benjamin-netanyahu-9421908)