ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the reasons why, despite the presence of structural conditions favorable to a revolutionary upheaval, the protests following the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi spread from Sidi Bouzid to the rest of the country. It shows that successful mobilization needs political agents who identify opportunities for mobilization and translate them into action. The government also used state resources to reward loyal newspapers by providing them with financial assistance while eliminating public advertising from non-compliant newspapers. Local workers were also the ones who capitalized on existing links with a number of national and international media outlets to nourish the general sense of heightened political awareness that was created by police violence at the center of the country. Political agents played a decisive role in engendering popular mobilization against the formidable violence of the state. The chapter also examines that the success of Ben Ali's "counter-insurgence' strategy' between 1990 and 2008 also helped facilitate the revolution.
