ABSTRACT
Based on open-ended interviews with Syrian refugees in Jordan and Turkey, this analysis of Syria’s first mass street demonstration, occurring on March 18, 2011, in the city of Daraa, seeks to make three contributions to understanding revolts. First, in illustrating how decisions or their intended outcomes might have been disrupted, it calls attention to the contingency shaping when, where, and how uprisings begin. Second, it shows how detailed study of actions and interactions at a specific juncture in time and place allows us to examine the relative weight of both premeditation and spontaneity in the development of protest. Third, scrutiny of participants’ understandings of their concrete choices can help reveal the microfoundations of macropolitical phenomena, shedding the light on the roles of instrumental rationality, values, and emotions in guiding behavior.
