"It's created major shifts," says Meier. "Some states have banned some of the cruelest factory farming practices".
That last was a major constitutional shift, said Amy Adler, a law professor at New York University.
North Korea Announces Policy Shift on Nuclear Talks North Korea, in a major policy shift, said it would negotiate its nuclear program without sticking "to any particular dialogue format".
"They're very worried that they're going to have to do a major policy shift," said Sarah Margon, the acting Washington director of Human Rights Watch.
To a certain extent, the Libyan campaign represents precisely the shift that Mr. Gates warned was coming — namely, the European nations paying for more of their own security, and to that extent it represents a "major strategic shift," said François Heisbourg, a defense expert at the Foundation for Strategic Research.
A few days later, Mr. Obama announced a major policy shift, saying he would accept new offshore drilling as part of a broader energy policy, but only if it included an end to some tax breaks for oil companies and federal incentives for alternative fuels.
"We don't know the full answer, but it is more likely that we are not seeing a major shift," Dr. Fukuda said.
"This is a major shift in outlook, and I believe it is a permanent shift," said Mark Sherman, who oversees efforts by BBN Technologies of Cambridge, Mass., a supplier of new technologies to the military since 1948.
"This is a major shift," Mr. Hishamuddin said.
