[IMPORTANT: Make this 4 times longer with much more detail]
Roundup The Most Notable Obituaries of 2024 FP examines the global legacies of those who died this year, from Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny to former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori. By Jennifer Williams , a deputy editor at Foreign Policy . Alexei Navalny stands in a crowd. Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny participates in a march in memory of Russian politician and opposition leader Boris Nemtsov in Moscow on Feb. 24, 2019. Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images My FP: Follow topics and authors to get straight to what you like. Exclusively for FP subscribers. Subscribe Now | Log In Politics Russia India December 27, 2024, 6:00 AM Comment icon View Comments ( 0 ) Several influential figures in world politics died in 2024, from jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny to former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori. Foreign Policy considered their lives and legacies—and how they shaped the world. Here are five notable FP obituaries from 2024. 2024 The year’s best stories Several influential figures in world politics died in 2024, from jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny to former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori. Foreign Policy considered their lives and legacies—and how they shaped the world. Trending Articles Trump’s Ambitious Week One Agenda He has pledged to take immediate action on issues from border security to trade. Powered By Advertisement Trump’s Ambitious Week One Agenda X Here are five notable FP obituaries from 2024. 1 . Alexei Navalny Wanted to Make Russia a ‘Normal Country’ By Amy Mackinnon , Feb. 16 “Charismatic, controversial, and unquestionably brave, Navalny and his team doggedly exposed corruption among the country’s political elite, including by Russian President Vladimir Putin himself,” Foreign Policy ’s Amy Mackinnon writes of the late Russian opposition leader. That bravery and refusal to back down from challenging the highest levels of power—even after he was poisoned with the potentially lethal nerve agent Novichok in 2020, an attack traced back to the Russian security services—garnered Navalny significant support among ordinary Russians and especially young people, whom he exhorted to take to the streets to express their outrage at the political corruption that he and his team’s investigations uncovered. But an authoritarian regime will sit back and let that happen for only so long. Upon his return from a short period spent abroad recovering from the poisoning, Navalny was promptly arrested and imprisoned. “Convicted on a range of charges widely regarded as politically motivated, including one for extremism, Navalny was sentenced to nearly two decades in the Russian penal system. He would never emerge,” Mackinnon writes. Navalny died in February in a Russian penal colony in the Arctic Circle at age 47. Yet as Mackinnon’s obituary suggests, though his life was cut short, his message may yet endure. 2. James C. Scott Trampled Across Borders to Explain the World By David Polansky , July 31 The name James C. Scott may not be as well-known as the others on this list, but political theorist David Polansky argues that Scott, an American political scientist and anthropologist who died in July at age 87, was “among the most influential intellectuals of the last half-century.” Polansky’s obituary sketches the contours of Scott’s substantial body of social science scholarship and the philosophical and practical questions that drove Scott’s relentless pursuit of understanding. “Starting with The Moral Economy of the Peasant in 1979 and continuing through to his last published work, Against the Grain in 2017, Scott’s topics ranged from German forestry to Malaysian villages, unified by a thematic concern with how centralized forms of control are both exerted and resisted,” Polansky writes. Though clearly a fan of Scott’s work, Polansky doesn’t shy away from pointing out some of its contradictions and shortcomings. Yet he concludes, “In the end, his corpus survives both its own flaws and others’ critiques, because of how it reshapes the way its readers see their world. Of how many writers in this—or any—age can you say that about?” Sign up for Editors’ Picks A curated selection of FP’s must-read stories. Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to receive email correspondence from us. You may opt out at any time. Enter your email Sign Up ✓ Signed Up You’re on the list! More ways to stay updated on global news: FP Live Enter your email Sign Up ✓ Signed Up World Brief Enter your email Sign Up ✓ Signed Up China Brief Enter your email Sign Up ✓ Signed Up South Asia Brief Enter your email Sign Up ✓ Signed Up Situation Report Enter your email Sign Up ✓ Signed Up View All Newsletters 3. Alberto Fujimori Transformed Peru—for Better and Worse By Mitra Taj , Sept. 12 “No leader since Fujimori has reshaped Peru as much as he did—or left as divisive a legacy,” Lima-based freelance journalist Mitra Taj writes in her masterful obituary of the former Peruvian president, who died in September at age 86. “During his two terms in office, bookended by his sudden rise to power in 1990 and his resignation via fax from Japan in 2000, Fujimori restructured Peru’s economy, rewrote its constitution, and reordered politics and institutions around support for his increasingly corrupt and authoritarian regime,” Taj writes. He defeated the Shining Path guerrillas and effectively ending a 12-year insurgency that rocked the country, but he also oversaw paramilitary death squads that were accused of torturing, disappearing, and massacring civilians. Taj traces Fujimori’s life from his rise to power to his ultimate downfall, as well as his lasting impact on the country that he ruled for a decade. 4. Ratan Tata’s Three Lessons for India By James Crabtree , Oct. 23 “Ratan Tata, who died on Oct. 9 at the age of 86, held a unique place in India’s business pantheon. Part industrial titan, part venerated secular saint, his ability to combine global success with a reputation for ethical probity was seen to represent the best of the country’s business culture,” Foreign Policy columnist James Crabtree writes in his thoughtful retrospective of the late Indian tycoon’s life and legacy. “Yet as India’s commercial scene grew ever more rapacious and its burgeoning band of billionaires ever wealthier, Tata often looked less like the leading representative of modern Indian capitalism and more like a singular exception to it,” Crabtree continues. Drawing in part on conversations he had with Tata while working as a foreign correspondent in India in the 2010s, Crabtree examines the arc of Tata’s career and the lessons it offers for India’s economic and political future. 5. Jimmy Carter Was a Foreign-Policy Visionary By Jonathan Alter, Dec. 29 “You wouldn’t know it from most obituaries, but former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who died Sunday at 100, was a visionary president on foreign policy,” writes Jonathan Alter, a political columnist and the author of His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life. “His achievements are little remembered but consequential,” writes Alter on Carter’s foreign policy legacy—from engineering the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt to normalizing relations with China and implementing a historic human rights policy. “Even his signature failure—the aborted mission to rescue 52 U.S. Embassy staff members held hostage in Iran—was not the complete fiasco depicted at the time.” Alter sets out to correct the record by reexamining the 39th U.S. president’s diplomatic triumphs, from the Middle East to Asia and beyond. Jennifer Williams is a deputy editor at Foreign Policy . X: @jenn_ruth Read More On Business | India | Peru | Politics | Russia Join the Conversation Commenting on this and other recent articles is just one benefit of a Foreign Policy subscription. Already a subscriber? Log In . Subscribe Subscribe View 0 Comments Join the Conversation Join the conversation on this and other recent Foreign Policy articles when you subscribe now. Subscribe Subscribe Not your account? Log out View 0 Comments Join the Conversation Please follow our comment guidelines , stay on topic, and be civil, courteous, and respectful of others’ beliefs. You are commenting as . Change your username | Log out Change your username: Username I agree to abide by FP’s comment guidelines . (Required) Confirm CANCEL Confirm your username to get started. The default username below has been generated using the first name and last initial on your FP subscriber account. Usernames may be updated at any time and must not contain inappropriate or offensive language. 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