Presidents and Prime Ministers (international)
- Muhammad Fadhel al-Jamali—(M.A.) twice Prime Minister of Iraq (40th PM); six times Foreign Minister; member of both houses of Iraqi Parliament
- Kassim al-Rimawi—(M.A. 1954, Ph.D. 1956) Prime Minister of Jordan (1980); Minister on six occasions (from 1962 through 1980)
- Giuliano Amato—(M.A., Law 1963) twice Prime Minister of Italy (72nd and 78th PM); Minister of the Interior; Minister of Foreign Affairs
- Hafizullah Amin—(Ph.D. 1962) 13th Prime Minister and 4th President of Afghanistan
- Nahas Angula—(M.A., M.Ed.) Prime Minister of the Republic of Namibia (incumbent as of 2010); member of the National Assembly since 1990
- Marek Belka—11th Prime Minister of Poland; twice Minister of Finance
- Fernando Henrique Cardoso—(faculty) 34th President of Brazil (1995–2003); Minister of External Relations (1992–1993); Minister of Finance (1993–1994)
- Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz—(Fulbright scholar, research, 1980 through 1981) Prime Minister of Poland (1996–97); Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland (2001–05); speaker, Sejm (lower chamber, Polish parliament) (2005); Minister of Justice of the Republic of Poland (1993–95); Senator (2007–)
- Gaston Eyskens—(M.Sc. 1927) six-time Prime Minister of Belgium (1949–1950, 1958–1961, 1968–1973)
- Mark Eyskens—(M.A. 1957) Prime Minister of Belgium (1981); Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs (1989–92); Belgian Minister of Finance; Belgian Minister of Economic Affairs
- Sun Fo—(M.S. 1917) twice Premier of the Republic of China (1931–32, 48–49); President of the Legislative Yuan (1932–48); President of the Examination Yuan (1966–73)
- Chen Gongbo—(M.A., Economics, 1925) Chinese politician; President of the Republic of China (Nanjing regime) (1944–1945)
- Václav Havel—(visiting artist in residence, 2006); 1st President of the Czech Republic (1993-2003); last president of Czechoslovakia (1989–1992)
- Jose Ramos Horta—Nobel Laureate; President of East Timor (2007–2012); Prime Minister (2006–2007)
- Lee Huan—(M.A.) former Premier of the Republic of China (1989–1990); ROC Minister of Education (1984–1987)
- Toomas Hendrik Ilves—(B.A.) twice President of Estonia ( 2011–, 2006–11); twice Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs (1999–2002, 1996–1998); Member of the European Parliament (2004–2006)
- Radovan Karadžić—(M.D. 1975) Serb politician, 1st President of Republika Srpska (1992–1996), psychiatrist, poet; accused of committing war crimes against Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats during the Siege of Sarajevo, as well as ordering the Srebrenica massacre
- Wellington Koo—(B.A., Ph.D) twice Premier of China (1924; '26–27); interim President ('26–27); Amb. to the U.S. ('46–56); co-founder League of Nations, United Nations
- Benjamin Mkapa—(M.A.) 3rd President of Tanzania (1995–2005); twice Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (1984–1990, 1977–1980))
- Nwafor Orizu—(M.A.) Acting President of Nigeria (1965–1966); second President of the Nigerian Senate (1960–1966) (during the Nigerian First Republic)
- Lucas Papademos—(faculty 1975–84) Prime Minister of Greece (November 2011–12); economist; former Governor, Bank of Greece (1994–02) and Vice President, European Central Bank (2002–10)
- Hans-Gert Pottering—(graduate studies) 23rd President of European Parliament (2007–2009)
- Mary Robinson—(faculty 2004-) 7th President of Ireland (1990–1997)
- Mikhail Saakashvili—(Law 1994) twice President of Georgia (2004–2007, 2008–present); leader of Rose Revolution
- Juan Bautista Sacasa—(M.D.) 66th President of Nicaragua (1933–1936); Vice President of Nicaragua (1926–1927)
- Salim Ahmed Salim—(M.A.) 5th Prime Minister of Tanzania; Deputy Prime Minister of Tanzania (1986–89); Minister for Foreign Affairs (1980–84); President of the United Nations General Assembly; 6th Secretary General, Organization of African Unity
- Ernesto Samper—(M.A.) 56th President of Colombia (1994–98); 17th Secretary General of Non-Aligned Movement (1995–98); 1st Minister of Economic Development (1990–91)
- Mohammad Musa Shafiq—(M.A.) Prime Minister of Afghanistan (1972–1973); Foreign Minister of Afghanistan (1971–1972)
- Tang Shaoyi—twice Prime Minister of the Republic of China (1912, 1922); first President, Shandong University
- T. V. Soong—(Ph.D.) twice Premier of Republic of China (1930 and 1945–1947); minister of finance (1932–1933); Governor, Central Bank of China (1928–1931)
- Charles Robberts Swart—(M.S.) first State President of the Republic of South Africa (1961–1967); last Governor-General of the Union of South Africa (1960–1961); Acting Prime Minister (1958)
- Nur Mohammed Taraki—3rd President and 12th Prime Minister of Afghanistan (1978–1979)
- Chung Un-chan—(faculty 1976-78) 40th Prime Minister of South Korea
- Abdul Zahir—(M.D.) Prime Minister of Afghanistan; President of Parliament; Ambassador to Italy; Ambassador to Pakistan
- Zhou Ziqi—(B.A.) former Premier and President of the Republic of China
Read more about this topic: List Of Columbia University People
Famous quotes containing the words presidents, prime and/or ministers:
“You must drop all your democracy. You must not believe in “the people.” One class is no better than another. It must be a case of Wisdom, or Truth. Let the working classes be working classes. That is the truth. There must be an aristocracy of people who have wisdom, and there must be a Ruler: a Kaiser: no Presidents and democracies.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“By whatever means it is accomplished, the prime business of a play is to arouse the passions of its audience so that by the route of passion may be opened up new relationships between a man and men, and between men and Man. Drama is akin to the other inventions of man in that it ought to help us to know more, and not merely to spend our feelings.”
—Arthur Miller (b. 1915)
“This was the Eastham famous of late years for its camp- meetings, held in a grove near by, to which thousands flock from all parts of the Bay. We conjectured that the reason for the perhaps unusual, if not unhealthful development of the religious sentiment here, was the fact that a large portion of the population are women whose husbands and sons are either abroad on the sea, or else drowned, and there is nobody but they and the ministers left behind.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)