As a consequence of this fear, in recent years, Saudi Arabia and Iran have become embroiled in a number of proxy conflicts, as collapses in political order elsewhere opened up new chances to compete for influence.
To give Afghanistan a real chance for peace, Pakistani influence will have to be either dramatically altered or aggressively minimized.
Being a founding member of a new school is an opportunity to engage with the education system in a new, meaningful, positive and powerful way: a chance for parents to influence its setting up, running and management.
Tad Devine, a senior strategist for Mr. Kerry, said the campaign was simply advertising most heavily where it believed it had the best chance of influencing undecided voters.
With so much up in the air, adherents of all three major strains of conservative foreign policy thinking are jockeying for influence and the chance to steer Republicans for the next generation.
A former assistant at Wake Forest and Virginia, Hunt said he pursued coaching for the chance to "influence and support young, eager, motivated minds". He inherits a team that won the Ivy Heps and finished third at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional meet last year, but three of six Princeton runners who scored points in those races have graduated.
If Russians believe they can be powerful on the basis of geoeconomics, they aren't going to surrender all their nukes or quest for influence, but the chances of their being real partners with the West will be much, much greater.
Mr. Gore cast the presidential election as a chance for people to reject the influence of special interests, saying at a rally in Michigan, "This country belongs to you, and I want to give it back to you".
"I also thought it provided a chance for us to have an influence on his life," Patterson said.
