It was a tumultuous year in world affairs as leaders struggled to cope with a range of problems, from political unrest and economic instability to global warming and the rise of violent extremism.
Irish Times Foreign Policy Editor Patrick Smyth asked our correspondents to reflect on a few of the individuals who played key roles in major events for a special episode of the World View podcast.
Derek Scally on German chancellor Angela Merkel
Merkel confounded her reputation for caution and indecisiveness in 2015 by throwing open Germany’s doors to migrants.
“It’s basically the big question, everyone is sitting around their tables this Christmas saying, ‘Who is this woman and what has she done with Angela Merkel?’,” said Derek.
“She has faced down her critics inside her party, she’s knocking heads together in Brussels saying, we can and will do this and we will all be measured on how we respond to this. By comparison the euro crisis was just a walk in the park”.
Suzanne Lynch on Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras
Many were stunned by Tsipras’s decision to hold a referendum on a new bailout package in July, six months after Syriza won power on a promise to resist any such deal. But his survival as prime minister has brought an element of stability to Greece.
Suzanne: “The significance of his victory really was not just limited to Greece but was hugely important in terms of its ramifications for other left-wing leaders such as [Jeremy, in Britain] Corbyn during the year and Podemos in Spain.
“Undoubtedly he has managed to bring the Greek people with him. He managed to say, we have no choice, we were pushed into a corner, and it seems most of the Greek population are prepared to back him on that”.
Denis Staunton on British prime minister David Cameron
Having led his party to an overall majority, Cameron’s popularity and political skill will be crucial if UK voters are to be convinced to remain in the EU in 2016.
Denis: “I think people now perceive him as being a safe pair of hands. He’s positioned himself as being a fairly moderate non-ideological person. If you look at his conference speech and the first Conservative Party conference after the election, he was very deliberately hitting a very centrist tone, speaking about personal freedom and all of that, as opposed to giving the red meat to the Conservative membership. He is now enhanced by his victory. He is probably a very formidable factor in the European campaign.”
Lara Marlowe on Laurence Tubiana
Fears that the COP21 climate conference in Paris would, like the 2009 Copenhagen conference, produce little in the way of concrete agreements were not realised, and the result is seen as a diplomatic triumph for France. Conference ambassador Laurence Tubiana was key to the conference’s success.
Lara: “They were much better prepared than the Danes, there were several reports said the Danes had not really exercised diplomacy. Tubiana flew to embassies all over the world, she invited people to dinner, they wined and dined government people and delegates but also journalists and even climate sceptics. So it was really a question of a huge amount of groundwork that paid off.
“[Former prime minister Laurent] Fabius was the timekeeper and the authority, where Tubiana was at a lower level. She was in contact with everybody and reminding everybody that this was the best possible agreement, there was no Plan B.”
Simon Carswell on Donald Trump
Trump has stunned the US political establishment by soaring to the front of the race for the Republican presidential candidacy and staying there for more than five months.
Simon: “Trump’s grandiose, bombastic campaign has appealed to emotion and prejudice and he’s dragged some of the other candidates to the right, after his anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric found strong support from white, uneducated, conservative voters. Although the base is significant at anywhere between 25 and 30 of Republican voters, and this base is very vocal, its a minority view among party supporters and an even smaller view among the wider electorate.”