The Arab Spring or How to Explain those Revolutionary Episodes?

Threat to democracy: Physical and mental health impact of democracy movement in Hong Kong

“…Perhaps the most potent example of the consequences of the depletion of internal and external resources was the actions of Mohammed Bouazizi, a street vendor, in Tunisia on December 17, 2010. He, after having had his wares confiscated by municipal workers, set fire to himself, thus setting in motion the events that led to the Arab Spring (Dupont and Passy, 2011).…”

The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Social Movements

“…The Arab Spring seems a perfect illustration of a protest wave in a non-democratic setting where the weakness of social movements and the quasi-absence of political parties played a considerable role in the emergence of the protest and its aftermath. The Arab Spring came as a surprise to many observers in the light of the weakness of civil society and the strength of the state (Dupont and Passy 2011). Nonetheless, widespread dissent brought down authoritarian regimes first, in Tunisia, then in Egypt, and next in Libya.…”

Understanding regime divergence in the post‐uprising Arab states

“…Variations in the intensity and breadth of anti‐regime mobilization determine whether enough political space was opened to make regime change possible and whether anti‐regime movements were able to build the cross‐class/cross‐communal alliances needed to create winning coalitions. Social movement theory (SMT) attributes such variations (Leenders, ; Dupont & Passy, ) to movements’ capacity to exploit grievances, thereby de‐legitimizing the status quo, and to whether the political opportunity structure facilitates or obstructs the mobilization of these grievances.…”