The strong program envisions institutions that have a direct capacity for regulating (with sanctions) individual actors, whether they are nations acting on behalf of private interests (or their own state corporations), or private interests, and individual actors themselves. The weak case envisions governance mechanisms that operate largely through existing institutions (including states) and require their compliance to effect action. These positions define the antipodes of a governance continuum. The current politics of global governance distributes advocacy for various structures or mechanisms along this continuum.