The state of play: To take part in the race, candidates needed backing from at least eight other Conservative MPs, who are now voting in a series of ballots to whittle the field down to two. The first ballot required 5% support (16 MPs) to move forward, while subsequent votes will require 10% support (32 MPs).

• The Conservatives' 1922 Committee announced earlier this week the results of the first round of voting by the party's members of Parliament in the race to replace May, winnowing the field from 10 candidates to seven.
• The candidates represent a wide spectrum of opinion on Brexit, which will serve as the defining issue in a contest that will decide who will attempt to reach a deal — or not — for the U.K. to leave the EU.

The results from the first ballot:

• Boris Johnson: 114
• Jeremy Hunt: 43
• Michael Gove: 37
• Dominic Raab: 27
• Sajid Javid: 23
• Matt Hancock: 20
• Rory Stewart: 19
• Andrea Leadsom: 11
• Mark Harper: 10
• Esther McVey: 9

Who's still in:

• Michael Gove: Currently serving as May's environment secretary, Gove previously ran for the Conservative leadership back in 2015. He has said he'd consider a no-deal Brexit if necessary, but is open to further delaying the deadline if progress on a deal is being made. While he's in the top-tier of candidates, he's currently facing press scrutiny over his admission of past cocaine use.
• Jeremy Hunt: He serves as May's foreign secretary and is widely considered the favorite as a moderate alternative to Boris Johnson. He believes he can renegotiate May's Brexit deal with the EU to stave off a no-deal Brexit.
• Sajid Javid: Currently serving as May's home secretary, Javid has promised that he'll push for Brexit as scheduled on October 31 — even without a deal. He's focused more on domestic issues than other candidates, promising to ease some of the U.K.'s immigration targets.
• Boris Johnson: He is the clear frontrunner in the race, having previously served as May's foreign secretary and the mayor of London. Known as a leading voice for the 2016 campaign to leave the EU, Johnson has promised he'd leave with or without a deal on Oct. 31 — but his bombastic, gaffe-ridden nature can be equally appealing and off-putting to certain sectors of the electorate.
• Dominic Raab: He previously served as May's Brexit secretary and is viewed as arch-Brexiteers' best — however small — hope. He's promised to deliver a no-deal Brexit if needed and has proposed proroguing, or essentially discontinuing, a session of Parliament to circumvent lawmakers and get it done.
• Rory Stewart: He serves as May's international development secretary and has become the social media darling of the race, popping up in random locations to debate with ordinary citizens. While a huge longshot, he's gained attention for his colorful life story — having walked thousands of miles across Afghanistan and Pakistan — and his proposal to convene a citizens' assembly to debate Brexit.

What's next: The series of ballots to determine the final two will take place over the next two weeks — before the final leadership campaign kicks off in earnest on June 22. Registered Conservative Party members will then choose their favorite of the final two via a mail-in ballot, and the winner will be announced during the week of July 22.

Go deeper: Everything you need to know about Brexit

Trump's stalled domestic agenda pales in comparison to the portfolio of international issues he's inserted himself into or created: trade wars, confrontations with Iran and summits with North Korea, and a Middle East peace plan.

• The president doesn't face an oversight agenda when it comes to in-the-moment foreign policy, where he can rely on the personal, transactional style that he's favored throughout his business career to grab headlines with autocrats like North Korea's Kim Jong-un and Russia's Vladimir Putin.

Bolsonaro — dubbed the "Trump of the Tropics" for his sexist and homophobic statements — took office at the beginning of 2019, but he's already seeing difficult times ahead for his key domestic promise: $300 billion in pension reform.

• The head of the congressional committee for pension reform said last week that Bolsonaro's plan doesn't have 200 of the 308 votes needed to pass Congress' lower house.
• In the meantime, Bolsonaro has used his notoriety abroad to gain influence with Trump officials even as he leverages the White House's trade war with China to his own advantage — massively upping trade numbers, especially in soybeans.

Macron has seen his presidency marred by "yellow vest" protests across France, while simultaneously using his power on the world stage to attempt to prop up the European project he holds dear.

• His grand entrance onto the political stage — the presidency and a Parliament controlled by his brand new party — became bogged down in a months-long listening tour called the "Great National Debate" in an attempt to quell the "yellow vest" outrage.
• As a result, Macron promised a massive reform package that would, among other things, cut income taxes and reduce the size of France's oversized bureaucracy, giving up control of a large portion of his domestic agenda in the process.
• While unrest percolated at home, Macron turned his attention to shoring up the European Union — "going full de Gaulle," according to Foreign Policy's Robert Zaretsky — bringing himself close to German Chancellor Angela Merkel as bastions of centrism on the continent and using his position as a bully pulpit against the U.K.'s botched Brexit process.

The bottom line: Democracy is designed to be a deliberative, gradual process, and it's become even slower as political polarization takes root worldwide — so leaders are increasingly forced to turn outward to flex their muscles.

The state of play: May's resignation announcement comes just after the U.K. voted in the European elections, where her Conservative Party is expected to take a drubbing in the polls among pro-Brexit voters at the hands of Nigel Farage's Brexit Party.

• May faced calls to resign for months over her Brexit deal — and the historic defeats it has faced in Parliament.
• She had previously promised to step down next month after one final attempt to get it passed, but that wasn't enough to allow her to hang on.

What's next: The contest for who will take over the Conservatives kicks off — Boris Johnson has already declared his interest — and the winner will be tasked with taking the next steps on Brexit. May will step down as the Conservative Party leader on June 7 and remain as a caretaker prime minister throughout the party's leadership election process, which will begin the following week.

• That could mean going back to the European Union to start from scratch and negotiate a new deal — but it could also mean drastic steps like a no-deal Brexit.
• Should the no-deal option be pursued by a Brexiteer successor to May, it would likely face severe backlash in Parliament and lead to an early general election.

Go deeper: Everything you need to know about Brexit