Measuring power can be tricky, mainly because few people seem to agree on a definition for it. Does it mean the ability to control people? Incredible wealth? Both, perhaps? Is a man powerful if heads of state stay up at night worrying about him?
Listed below are 10 men whose positions make them exceptionally influential in the international arena today. These men have the money, the followers, and the political clout to make the decisions that matter. In other words, these are men whose slightest actions appear on national TV.


Number 10 John Paul II The Pope
As the leader of one billion Catholics and one of the world's most important landowners, the supreme pontiff exercises a lot of influence. The Vatican is in fact one of the largest investment firms in the world. In the United States, it has large interests with Morgan Bank, Chase Manhattan Bank, and First Bankers Trust Company, and it holds billions of shares in significant international corporations such as Gulf Oil, Shell, General Motors, General Electric, and IBM. While secretive about its numbers, it is estimated that this institution's wealth surpasses $500 million in the U.S. alone.
But even though the Pope's words are obeyed by many, the Vatican's credibility is in tatters, in the wake of the alleged pedophile scandals in the U.S. involving Catholic priests. And with the decline of religion, especially in the West, the Pope can do little more than preach the Christian message of love and understanding, and hope it gets through to the highest echelons of policymakers.
Quote: "As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live."


Number 9 Bill Gates Chairman of Microsoft
The chief of the largest software maker on Earth has plenty of aces up his sleeve. Worth at least $30 billion himself, Gates is in charge of over 50,000 employees and controls Windows, the most popular operating system for computers. The MSN network of Internet services attracts over 230 million visitors per month, making it one of the most popular Web destinations. And its free Web-based e-mail service, Hotmail, presently boasts more than 58 million users.
With such incredible numbers, Microsoft controls not only the way many people access information, but also what kind . Gates has a worldwide reach, and his gifts of free computers for libraries and research only secure his high-tech foothold even more.
Quote: "There are people who don't like capitalism, and people who don't like PCs. But there's no one who likes the PC who doesn't like Microsoft."


Number 8 Li Ka-shing Chairman of Hutchinson Whampoa, Ltd.
With a $13 billion fortune (and counting), Li Ka-shing is Hong Kong's richest man and arguably the most powerful man in Asia. His multibillion-dollar conglomerate, Hutchinson Whampoa, is the world's largest port operator and employs over 150,000 people worldwide in telecommunications, hotels, infrastructure, and retail.
Li Ka-shing is in command of both sides of the Panama Canal, the vital waterway that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. Also, some of his closest associates are members of the Chinese communist government. Understandably, he is a source of agitation for Western governments as his expansion is commonly seen as a front for Chinese Communist expansion. As an example of his global influence, he offered to buy the bankrupt U.S. telecom firm Global Crossing and make a fiber optic network connecting Singapore with hundreds of businesses in world. The American government deliberated on it for so long (precisely because of his international clout and high-powered Chinese connections), that he gave up.
Quote: "We have investments and operations in 41 countries, and the last time I counted, our group employs over 150,000 people internationally. I am sure more people in other countries will understand me now."

Number 7 Rupert Murdoch Chairman and CEO of News Corporation
At the same time the world's most respected and most loathed man, the News Corp captain owns the single largest media empire in the world. With a net worth ballooning to $5.3 billion, and over $40 billion in assets, his company is only growing. Hundreds of millions of people around the world read, hear, and see his version of the news, broadcast in most Australian papers, one-third of British newspapers, the BSkyB satellite TV network, the American FOX group of TV and movies, and STAR television in Asia, to name a few.
Murdoch has the power to sway popular opinion, as shown by the growing popularity of the unabashedly patriotic FOX News channel in the U.S. And when it comes to politics, it seems that it's all about the bottom line. He cleverly convinced communist China that he was no threat to their information control by throwing off the BBC from his STAR network, claiming it was anti-China. Jiang Zemin has publicly shown his admiration for the man.
Quote: "You can't build a strong corporation with a lot of committees and a board that has to be consulted every turn. You have to be able to make decisions on your own."

Number 6 Jiang Zemin Chinese leader
Jiang Zemin may have been replaced by Hu Jintao as president of the world's most populous nation, but it's him who still calls the shots. As chairman of the Communist Party of China's (CPC) Central Military Commission, he is the supreme commander of 2.5 million military units, and a nuclear superpower. Jiang Zemin also has the Politburo -- the Party's political bureau and the nexus of Chinese power -- packed with allies. And he receives more press coverage than Hu Jintao.
Jiang led the nation of 1.3 billion people through a period of dizzying modernization and remained America's most important trading partner for the last 13 years. With a GDP of 5.5 trillion (est. 2001), this booming economy is expected to double in 10 years. But keeping a cozy relationship with North Korea, another proclaimed nuclear power, creates waves of anxiety throughout the globe.
Quote: "The theory of relativity worked out by Mr. Einstein, which is in the domain of natural science, I believe can also be applied to the political field. Both democracy and human rights are relative concepts -- and not absolute and general."

Number 5 Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Abdulaziz Alsaud Prince of Saudi Arabia
Prince Alwaleed is right now the most important bridge between the Western and the Muslim worlds. The single largest Arab investor in U.S. corporations, Forbes magazine ranked him the sixth richest person in the world in 2001. With about $16 billion in holdings, his Kingdom Holding Company has major financial stakes in some of the world's best-known companies, including Citigroup, News Corp. and AOL Time Warner.
His current plan is to modernize his country with wireless communications and the Internet economy, bringing it up to speed with other modern nations. A major source of oil to the West, Saudi Arabia enjoys a comfortable, though often questioned, relationship with the U.S.
Quote: "The Arab world has to do more to get its message across to the American public, and we have not been doing a good job of this so far."

Number 4Vladimir Putin Russian President
The collapse of the Soviet Union left a lingering nostalgia for power in this country that has always aspired to greatness. The leadership of the world's largest nation, with 145 million inhabitants and a $1.2 trillion GDP (est. 2001), will struggle for many years to come to bring this fallen bear to its feet.
But Russia still holds much influence today. With petrochemical and infrastructure contracts abounding, including in Iraq, it is still a major force in Asia, and is set to lead a strategic partnership with its major powers, like China and India. But with a military force of 1.2 million, Putin is smart enough to play the double card of pleasing both Asia and the U.S. What else would you expect from a former KGB agent?
Quote: "Anyone who doesn't regret the passing of the Soviet Union has no heart. Anyone who wants it restored has no brains."

Number 3 Alan Greenspan Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve
The chairman of the Federal Reserve makes the decisions that keeps the American -- and by extension the world's -- economy healthy. By the power of his word, Greenspan manipulates the American interest rates, which can send the market darting upwards or crumbling to the ground. And like most men of influence, he always keeps the markets and the politicians guessing.
In his 16-year tenure as chairman of the Fed, Greenspan has helped maintain the American economy at a steady rate of growth while keeping inflation in check. With the American GDP at nearly $10.4 trillion (est. 2002), this is no painless task. And with globalization connecting economies, people from New York to New Delhi wait on his word before buying a house.
Quote: "In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value."

Number 2 Silvio Berlusconi Prime Minister of Italy
Italy's leader and richest citizen represents a new breed of media monopolist politicians. His influential Fininvest holding company dominates Italy's commercial television, and book and magazine publishing industries.
Himself worth $12 billion, he also controls the country's biggest film production company and this year's Champions League winners, AC Milan. But he doesn't just rule Italy's airwaves. His power is such that he is set to pass a bill that will indefinitely freeze the trial in which he is charged with bribing a judge to approve Fininvest's attempted takeover of food company SME.
A staunch U.S. supporter, Berlusconi became president of the European Union on July 1, 2003. He is the first man that George W. Bush calls when he needs international support.
Quote: "There is no one on the world stage who can compete with me."

Number 1 George W. Bush American President
It should come as no surprise that the leader of the world's sole superpower should receive the top spot on the list. George W. Bush leads the world's fourth largest nation, the most technologically powerful economy, and sits as supreme commander of the greatest military arsenal in history, with over 247,000 personnel posted overseas in more than 130 countries.
When the U.S. talks, the world listens. Responsible for 40% of the world's military spending, many countries rely on U.S. military might for protection, making it the most attractive ally to have.
And when the American economy shakes, everyone from Texas to Tokyo feels it. America leads and will continue to lead the world unchallenged for many years to come, hence its foothold of the top spot on any "power" list.
Quote: "We will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism. Every nation in every region now has a decision to make: Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists."