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← All leaders🇨🇻 Cabo Verde
José Maria Neves

José Maria Neves

President · 🇨🇻 Cabo Verde·2021–present

ActiveHard
Leadership Rating
62

Leadership Snapshot

Leadership Rating
62
Legacy Score
67
Diff. Adjusted (Hard)
66
Role
President
Party
African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde
Term Started
Nov 2021
Government
Parliamentary Republic
Crisis Hero+Populist+
Political Position
LeftFar RightRight

Curated estimate — no expert-survey data available.

Leadership Radar

Current Capability
Governance
55
Economy
67
Diplomacy
66
Politics
61
Crisis Management
66
Vision
51
Communication
60
Integrity
62
Defense
58
Popularity
86

Popularity Signals

Domestic Approval→ POP

Direct approval of the leader's job performance — polled domestically.

Afrobarometer R9 · 202278
Trust Proxy

Trust in the president / government; used as a proxy when direct approval is unavailable.

Afrobarometer R9 · 202257
International Confidence

Foreign publics' confidence in this leader on world affairs (Pew Research; major leaders only).

Leadership Analysis

Executive Brief — NationsHelm Intelligence

José Maria Neves currently holds the position of President of Cabo Verde with a Leadership Rating of 62. The Difficulty-Adjusted Score of 66 — 4 points above the raw rating — reflects the real cost of operating in a genuinely difficult governance environment.

The core profile is anchored by Popularity (86), Economy (67), Diplomacy (66). This maps to a "Populist" archetype: enjoys broad and resilient public support, with the secondary dimensions reinforcing rather than contradicting the primary signal. The Crisis Hero+, Populist+ classification further substantiates this reading.

The principal constraint on this profile is concentrated in Vision (51) and Governance (55). Governs reactively rather than strategically. For Cabo Verde, this gap is one to monitor as the current term progresses.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Top Strengths
Popularity86

Current public approval and political legitimacy

Economy67

Economic stewardship, growth, and macro stability

Diplomacy66

International relations and multilateral negotiation

Crisis Management66

Performance under economic, health, or security crises

Integrity62

Perceived transparency and anti-corruption track record

Key Weaknesses
Vision51

Strategic foresight and long-term reform capacity

Governance55

State management and policy execution capacity

Defense58

National security doctrine and defense capability

Communication60

Public communication, oratory, and media presence

Politics61

Political coalition-building and governability

Country Context

Full nation intelligence →
🇨🇻
Cabo Verde
52 OVRHard
Economy
45
Governance
66
Quality of Life
50
Innovation
50
Stability
50

Country scores are blended with live World Bank data where available. Save difficulty reflects the structural challenge of governing this nation — not the leader's individual performance.

Leadership Archetype

📢
Populist

A leader whose political engine runs on direct public connection. High popularity and communication define the profile, often at the expense of institutional or integrity metrics.

Archetypes are derived automatically from the leadership stat profile and active traits — not hand-assigned.

Current Challenges

Stable Trajectorylow

No material governance or legitimacy challenges detected in the current profile.

Leadership Conditions

Government Stability
52

Moderate — performance is tied to this leader's presence.

Reform Difficulty
57

Moderate reform friction.

External Conditions
60

Neutral external backdrop.

Time in Office 5 years·Since Nov 2021

Similar Leaders

Leaders with the most similar governing style profile

Similarity is computed across all 10 leadership stats using weighted Euclidean distance — it measures governing style, not ideology or political alignment.

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Data coverage: 27 live·2 derived·0 curatedLast refreshed: Jul 4, 2026Methodology: Reconstructable
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