TY - JOUR TI - Why do people protest? DO - https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/T34T6M7G PY - 2015 AB - My study aims to advance research on the collective action dilemma in protest movements by examining protest mobilization leading up to and during the 2011 Egyptian Revolution and 2013 June 30th Coup in Cairo, Egypt. The overarching question I attempt to answer is: Why do individuals who are not members of political groups or organizing members of political movements choose to engage or not engage in revolutionary protest under an authoritarian regime? By examining my 170 interviews with individuals who either protested or did not protest, I explore how social media, television framing, violent government repression, changes in political opportunities, and the deep state influenced individual decisions to protest or not protest. The central argument in this study is that individuals are rational actors whose decisions to protest or not protest are affected by the interplay of three sets of factors, conveniently grouped under the following headings: political opportunity structures, mobilizing structures, and framing processes. Additionally, I assume that the ordering of individual preferences in the decision-making process takes place through emotional mechanisms that are activated by specific combinations of these factors. KW - Political Science KW - Egypt--History--Protests, 2011- KW - Egypt--Politics and government--21st century LA - eng ER -