From a wealthy Normandy family (a photograph of the family chateau unapologetically decorated his office wall in Brussels), Mr Lamy may not share Mr Delors's sentimental affection for the peasantry, but his political antennae are just as sharp.

ECONOMIST: Pascal Lamy, free-market Frenchman?

His political point regarding Malaysia is sharp and angry: when government, religion, and tradition put desire under an iron fist despite the free market in labor, humans are reduced to beasts of burden, and their desire turns beastly as well.

NEWYORKER: I Don't Want to Sleep Alone

With his sharp suits and his flair for political theatre, his style borrows heavily from the most popular of Japan's new governors.

ECONOMIST: Japan

ISCS, argues that it would once have been impossible to imagine such opposing organisations as his and Demos politely sharing seminars, given the sharp political faultlines created by Thatcherism in the 1980s.

ECONOMIST: Mezzanine Way

His generosity to the Democratic cause stands in sharp contrast to the political leanings of the rest of the Walton family, a group that includes six billionaires.

FORBES: Wal-Mart Heir Donates To Obama PAC, Defying Rest Of Billionaire Family