Recruiting kids for nonviolent conflict resolution may threaten gangs who are recruiting them for something else. Common interests are not always obvious either. Even when they are obvious, as Jack Walker points out, we don't always act on them. On the other hand, the insurance industry had an interest in stopping health care reform. All things being equal, those with narrow interests and lots of resources find it easier to mobilize than those with broad interests and fewer resources.
Power is about interaction among actors in terms of their interests and resources.
As he shows, an actor can exercise power over another when he or she holds resources vital to the other actor's interests. So as configurations of interests and resources change, so do power relationships. Two Kinds of Power Power can be exercised in at least two different ways. The employer can dominate the worker because the worker depends on the employer. The employers' interests get addressed but at the expense of workers' interests that do not.