Americas

Suriname

Political journey

A Dutch colony known for plantations, Suriname became independent in 1975 and was ruled by a military regime under Dési Bouterse in the 1980s, who later returned as an elected president in 2010. In 2025 Jennifer Geerlings-Simons became its first woman president, in a country expected to profit from offshore oil.

Suriname today

Its current leader’s position on the ten Caucus dimensions.

💰EconomySlightly state-led
State-ledFree market
⚖️Liberty and authorityLeaning authoritarian
LibertarianAuthoritarian
🎭CultureLeaning traditional
ProgressiveTraditional
🌍NationLeaning nationalist
GlobalistNationalist
🌱EnvironmentSlightly nature-first
Growth-firstNature-first
🤖TechnologySlightly tech-optimist
Tech-cautiousTech-optimist
🕊️War and peaceCentered on war and peace
Peace-firstStrength-first
🏛️InstitutionsSlightly institutional
Anti-establishmentInstitutional
🙏ReligionLeaning religious
SecularReligious
🛡️InterventionismCentered on interventionism
Non-interventionistInterventionist

Who leads Suriname today

Portrait of Jennifer Geerlings-Simons

Jennifer Geerlings-Simons

President of Suriname, 2025 to present

A physician and longtime legislator who took over the National Democratic Party after Dési Bouterse’s death and became Suriname’s first woman president in 2025.

Jennifer Geerlings-Simons sits in the left-authoritarian part of the Caucus economy and liberty compass: slightly state-led and leaning authoritarian. The clearest positions are leaning authoritarian on liberty and authority, leaning traditional on culture and leaning nationalist on nation. The profile is close to the middle on war and peace and interventionism.

Full profile of Jennifer Geerlings-Simons →

Political views closest to Suriname’s leadership

CommunitarianismStresses community bonds, shared values and civic duty over pure individualism.99%CorporatismOrganizes society into industry and professional bodies that bargain with the state, an…98%One-nation conservatismA paternalist conservatism holding that the better off owe duties to the poor and to…98%Pan-AfricanismSeeks solidarity and unity among African peoples and states.97%

Countries with similar leadership

Ranked by how close their current leaders are on the ten dimensions.

Timor-LesteAsia & Oceania99%BotswanaAfrica & Middle East99%MozambiqueAfrica & Middle East99%NamibiaAfrica & Middle East99%

Country histories are short summaries. Positions are simplified estimates of the leaders included in Caucus as of October 2026, and percentages show how close two profiles are across all ten dimensions.