Not intended to be an honorary award. In the last thirty or so years the people chosen to be the most significant in the world have predominantly been American, indicative of either America's political and cultural clout, or simply American
parochialism. By routine
American presidents get selected in the year prior to their
inauguration, regardless if they ever did any significant beyond running for public office.
Just as prime movers and shakers like Osama Bin Laden,Rupert Murdoch, Bill Gates, Margaret Thatcher, Neil Armstrong, The Beatles, Mao Tse Tung and Elvis missed seeing their face stylistically drawn on a Christmas edition, the title has been awarded to people nobody remembers. Like Yassir Arafat (no sign that the Oslo Accords worked), Corazon Aquino (how long did she last ?), Jeff Bezos (three months later we had the dot com crash) and Andy Grove (so he makes microchips...SO WHAT ?)