But, encouraged by Europe's political shift to the left, some unions are starting to flex their muscles.
Israel, where divisive politicos flex their muscles shows nearly a 30 percent decline from its early 2011 peak.
This is asking mutual funds, pension funds, bank trust departments, college endowments to flex their muscles and be heard.
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Others say it is an organised attempt by criminal gangs to flex their muscles and face down the police.
Jet engines and energy infrastructure did not flex their muscles this quarter, but both make sense from a long-term perspective.
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However, it seems likely that Democrats are going to flex their muscles on trade issues before returning fast track authority to any president.
Though the Sufi tradition has been widely followed for centuries in South Asia, its hold is weakening as the extremists flex their muscles.
Nobody knows how politics will look when the new parliaments flex their muscles, or when different parties rule in Cardiff, Edinburgh and Westminster.
Big hotel groups are most able to flex their muscles this way, especially in America where the majority of hotel rooms are booked via chains.
And, as the euro zone crisis forces more banks to pull back from Asia, the timing seems ripe for local financiers to flex their muscles.
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MPs will doubtless be in a mood to flex their muscles.
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Labour's National Policy Forum is due to meet later this month to consider ideas that will end up in the election manifesto, and the barons have already begun to flex their muscles.
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We're still some distance away from once again hopping on Dreamliners for long-haul flights, but the aircraft will at least have a chance to flex their muscles before they resume their main duties.
One final thought worth remembering - whatever is agreed has to go to the European Parliament and the MEPs are not just determined to flex their muscles, they are big backers of EU spending.
Vault said their list includes internships that give students a chance to shine and flex their professional muscles.
Seeking to flex their parliamentary muscles, Golkar and Miss Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, the two largest parties in the Nationhood Coalition, have discovered they are not as strong as they had hoped.
Another reason is that, as the parliament begins to flex its muscles, the prizes that the parties can hand out to their members a chairmanship of a committee here, a rapporteurship there have become more sought after.
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