The result is that the centripetal force the group once exerted has gone and we have returned to a situation similar to that of the old "pre-al-Qaida" days with a whole series of different local groups involved in local struggles with negligible central co-ordination.
Now newly released Downing Street documents have shed fresh light on the relationship between Margaret Thatcher and Mikhail Gorbachev, exposing how Thatcher exerted intense diplomatic pressure on the future leader to successfully block a Soviet donation of much-needed cash to the strikers.
His wife made plain that she had exerted pressure on him not still to be an MP when he is 65 in 2006.
It says: Concerted and effective pressure must be exerted on the Syrian authorities to allow UN agencies and international humanitarian organizations unfettered access to IDPs [internally displaced persons] and others in need throughout the country, including allowing cross-border access to the relevant areas from other countries, as well as across front lines within Syria.
The only pressure, exerted by me, was to present good journalism supported by valid evidence.
Menke, 56, exerted a huge influence on the style and pace of modern movies, having helped Tarantino create the look of all his films.
The collection included loose, neon shirt dresses in orange and pink, whose modern, urban glamour exerted an immediate pull.
He had been strangely indecisive all afternoon, discomforted by the pressure England exerted at the breakdown.
Nevertheless, given the pressure that has been exerted on curators in recent years to ensure five-day pitches in order flog tickets and boost bar receipts, it was great to see Matt Page at the Waca prepare a fast, green wicket.
The term is "hegemony" – defined as "the social, cultural, ideological, or economic influence exerted by a dominant group".
"No single individual has exerted a more profound influence on modern human productivity," Mr Gilder wrote of Carver Mead in Forbes in 1988.
