2025 was a year of big shifts, at times driven by singular personalities. U.S. President Donald Trump comes to mind, of course. But so do the officials who surround him—and the world leaders who are adjusting to a shifting global order in his wake.
In Germany, a longtime senior political figure became chancellor and sought to make the country more of a force on the world stage. In Hungary and Venezuela, opposition leaders gained steam that could bring major change in 2026. And in Iran, a filmmaker won global acclaim for a movie made in secret, which captures the evolution of a society that leaves little room for freedom.
2025 was a year of big shifts, at times driven by singular personalities. U.S. President Donald Trump comes to mind, of course. But so do the officials who surround him—and the world leaders who are adjusting to a shifting global order in his wake.
In Germany, a longtime senior political figure became chancellor and sought to make the country more of a force on the world stage. In Hungary and Venezuela, opposition leaders gained steam that could bring major change in 2026. And in Iran, a filmmaker won global acclaim for a movie made in secret, which captures the evolution of a society that leaves little room for freedom.
Below are five of Foreign Policy’s most illuminating profiles of the year.
1. Germany’s New 1990s Chancellor
By Alexander Clarkson, Feb. 20
Germany’s election in February paved the way for Friedrich Merz, a senior figure in the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), to become chancellor after years in the political wilderness. Merz has since claimed a leading role on the world stage, projecting a more assertive Germany.
Merz drew outrage soon after the election for saying that he would go “all in” and vote with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in favor of harsh immigration measures. But, as academic Alexander Clarkson writes in this profile, critics failed to see that Merz “instinctively understood” how to win over the CDU’s conservative factions.
To appreciate how Merz got here, Clarkson writes, it helps to look back at the political era that shaped him—and to the personal resentment he holds for former Chancellor Angela Merkel. His strategy may pose risks in the long run, but it has gotten him this far.
“Merz’s repudiation of the centrist approach that defined the Merkel years attracted support from party members who believed that a pivot to cultural conservatism would prevent right-wing voters from shifting their support to the AfD,” Clarkson writes.
2. The Metternich of the Bronx
By Adrian Karatnycky, June 20
Among the more unconventional figures shaping U.S. foreign policy in Trump’s second term is Steve Witkoff, a former New York real estate lawyer-turned-property developer who has found himself negotiating for peace in Ukraine.
Analyst Adrian Karatnycky traces Witkoff’s first few months of diplomacy, as success in securing a cease-fire and hostage release in the Israel-Hamas war led to an expanded portfolio and a de facto role as envoy to Russia.
With Moscow, Karatnycky writes, Witkoff shifted gears: “Instead of working in close cooperation with U.S. government experts, he ran what was essentially a one-man show. Controversially, he avoided significant engagement with the U.S. Embassy in Moscow or the State Department back in Washington.”
Months later, Witkoff remains a newsmaker, clashing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio over how to handle peace efforts in Ukraine as the year comes to a close.
3. The Man Who Could Topple Orban
By Lili Rutai, Nov. 7
Hungary holds parliamentary elections next April, and the polls are not looking good for Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has ruled the country for 15 years. The candidate looking to unseat the strongman, opposition leader Peter Magyar, was once a member of Orban’s Fidesz party. In just a year, he has become the country’s most popular politician.
Hungarian journalist Lili Rutai captures the personality behind this shift, who recognizes the uphill battle he faces against a leader who has cracked down on civil society and the press. In November, Magyar drew 170,000 people to the streets of Budapest—roughly twice as many as Orban’s own march the same day.
“Whether Orban will hold a fair election against Magyar, and let go of power if he loses, may determine the future of democracy in Hungary,” Rutai writes.
Magyar compares his supporters to the Hungarians who fought the Ottoman military centuries ago. “Among us are young and old people, living in Budapest, the rural areas, in the motherland or abroad—who are fighting for their homeland and for the future of their children and grandchildren,” he told Rutai.
4. The Voice of Venezuela’s Opposition
By Mie Hoejris Dahl, Nov. 13
María Corina Machado at a protest in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 30, 2024.Alfredo Lasry R via Getty Images
On Oct. 10, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize to María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader who went into hiding last year, following the disputed presidential election in which Nicolás Maduro again claimed victory.
Machado was barred from running in that election, but journalist Mie Hoejris Dahl followed Machado as she campaigned for her replacement, Edmundo González, in July 2024. Dahl presents a compelling portrait of Machado, once dismissed as a fringe politician, and her fight for democracy. Even those who don’t always agree with her admit that Machado has been uniquely unifying for those opposed to Maduro.
On “the campaign trail, it was clear that the country had changed since my previous visits, when Venezuelans spoke about politics only in whispers—or not at all,” Dahl writes.
Machado, who appeared in Oslo to receive the Nobel this month after sneaking out of Venezuela by boat, has recently stirred controversy for saying that she supports a U.S. military intervention to oust Maduro. (She dedicated her award to Trump.) Dahl’s profile captures the intangible reasons that Machado will likely continue shaping global affairs in 2026.
5. Jafar Panahi Has His Eyes on the Future
By Amir Ahmadi Arian, Dec. 19
It Was Just an Accident, the first film from Iranian director Jafar Panahi since he was released from prison in 2023, is now a major Oscar contender. It won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in May, cementing Panahi as one of the most celebrated living filmmakers. “Yet to many Iranians, Panahi is known as much for his defiance as for his cinema,” Iranian author Amir Ahmadi Arian writes.
Panahi’s latest work, which follows a group of prisoners who kidnap the interrogator who tortured them, is deeply personal. “Making films is the only thing I know how to do. Apart from that, I was also trying to find a way to organize the chaos in my head, to give shape to all the thoughts and feelings I carried with me out of prison,” the director told Arian.
In his profile of Panahi, Arian puts this film in the context of his entire body of work, which is known for resisting mainstream conventions. He finds that, taken together, these films chart not only the director’s personal evolution but also the evolution of Iran itself—culminating with a portrait of a country reshaped by the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom movement.
It Was Just an Accident is a “more ambitious chapter from a filmmaker who has spent three decades testing the boundaries of cinema and the limits of expression,” Arian writes.
