Because participating groups enter social movements with a range of goals, it is not surprising that they would view acceptable outcomes differently. Coalition dynamics are inherently unstable, as participants are constantly aware of the changing viability and value of particular alliances. In liberal polities, where political institutions are relatively permeable, coalitions are particularly fluid. A very recent example illustrates this point. Whereas laboratory research on the human genome rarely gets much public attention or understanding, periodic decision windows offer an invitation for concerned groups to weigh in. The decision about whether to fund research on human stem cell lines revisits, and reconfigures, old coalitions from the abortion debate. Research scientists, absent en bloc from the abortion debate, weighed in heavily on the question of stem cell research, mobilizing in their behalf, victims of a range of diseases that might be treated with new scientific discoveries. Some portion of the anti-abortion movement, seeing research on discarded embryonic cells (or embryonic cell lines created to be research material) as disrespectful for life, threatened to mobilize if such research were legitimated (Meyer, 2003).
According to Meyer (2003), the following is true of the U.S. economy and social movements.. which clearly shows his views "Changes in policy, particularly in the composition of policy monopoly, means the terrain on which social movements mobilize is constantly shifting. Opportunities for inclusion always threaten to undermine the urgency of particular claims or the perceived necessity of extra institutional mobilization to make them. Government does not have to satisfy even the largest part of a movement coalition to make subsequent social mobilization much more difficult. For elected officials, understanding this reality means the constant search for equilibrium points on policy to stabilize policy monopolies and to palliate political constituency, giving enough to quell disturbances, but not so much as to generate disruption from the other side. For activists, understanding this interaction means making hard calculations about the costs, as well as the benefits, of concessions on matters of policy and political conclusion. Realizing that the prospects for continued mobilization are limited, in no small part due to the dynamics of coalition politics, should help in considering the trade-offs inherent in cultivating institutionally oriented allies, recognizing better deals, and negotiating them." By having this to occur, some of the following will happen or actual stabilized.
Stabilization and Growth. Perhaps most importantly, the federal government guides the overall pace of economic activity, attempting to maintain steady growth, high levels of employment, and price stability. By adjusting spending and tax rates (fiscal policy) or managing the money supply and controlling the use of credit (monetary policy), it can slow down or speed up the economy's rate of growth -- in the process, affecting the level of prices and employment (U.S. Economy).
Regulation and Control. The U.S. federal government regulates private enterprise in numerous ways. Regulation falls into two general categories. Economic regulation seeks, either directly or indirectly, to control prices. Traditionally, the government has sought to prevent monopolies such as electric utilities from raising prices beyond the level that would ensure them reasonable profits. At times, the government has extended economic control to other kinds of industries as well. In the years following the Great Depression, it devised a complex system to stabilize prices for agricultural goods, which tend to fluctuate wildly in response to rapidly changing supply and demand. A number of other industries -- trucking and, later, airlines -- successfully sought regulation themselves to limit what they considered harmful price-cutting (U.S. Economy).
Direct Services. Each level of government provides many direct services. The federal government, for example, is responsible for national defense, backs research that often leads to the development of new products, conducts space exploration, and runs numerous programs designed to help workers develop workplace skills and find jobs. Government spending has...
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