Be Sun Lee

1. Niccolo Machiavelli

Niccolo Machiavelli was an Italian historian, philosopher, humanist and writer based in Florence during the Renaissance. He is a founder of modern political science. His masterpiece, the Prince, is always inspiring me. People say this book is immoral description that was focused solely on a prince’s interest. However, I see it as an amoral scientific and strategic description which was very suitable plan to save Italy from devastating.

2. Hillary Rodham Clinton

Hillary Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. As many people would agree, Hillary Clinton has a strong leadership and the intelligence. Although she is working for US government, I see her as the representative of women from all over the world. Especially, I was very impressed from her speech “Women’s Rights are Human Rights.”

3. Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes was an English philosopher. His masterpiece ‘Leviathan’ established the foundation for most of Western political philosophy from the perspective of social contract theory. His mechanistic understanding of human beings and passions always help me to stand strong. We live in a World where competition has heightened. We live in a society where “war of all against all. This dangerous state can give the rise to the ‘Leviathan.’ To ensure our freedom, I recommend everyone to read Hobbes’ ‘Leviathan.’

4. Aristotle

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. Aristotle is a quite inspirational person because he has became the political philosophy foundation to me.

5. Park Chung-Hee

Park Chung-hee was a Republic of Korea Army general and the president of South Korea. Park seized power in a military-led coup d’etat and ruled as an unelected military strongman until his formal election as president. Although he was a dictator, he started the industrialization and rapid economic growth of South Korea through export-oriented industrialization. Despite this, he remains a controversial figure in South Korean history due to his authoritarian way of ruling the country.

6.Chung Ju-yung

Chung Ju-yung was a South Korean entrepreneur, businessman and the founder of Hyundai Group. After the liberation of Korea from Japanese control, he created Hyundai in anticipation of the post-war reconstruction and industrialization. Chung won major government contracts and became responsible building much of South Korea’s transportation infrastructure. He continued his business after the Korean War. His company is now one of the biggest business firm in the world.

7. J.P. Morgan

John Pierpont Morgan was an American financier, banker and art collector who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric. Also, he formed the United States Steel Corporation.