the economic leverage of Egyptian protesters

http://www.truth-out.org/why-mubarak-fell-the-sometimes-incredible-power-nonviolent-protest67770

" If you want to avoid future foreign policy Obaminations, be aware that nonviolent protest has the potential to strangle even the most brutal regime, if it can definitively threaten the viability of its core industries. In these circumstances, a mass movement equipped with fearsome weapons of mass disruption can topple a tyrant equipped with fearsome weapons of mass destruction."


While this is not about ICA, I wanted to point to it to show how complex some collective actions can be. This article discusses the economic leverage that the protesters in Egypt had.  They shut down tourism, which is a huge section of Egyptian economy, almost instantly.  Toward the end, the Suez Canal was threatened with closure.  These economic strangulations turned the business class against Mubarak.  And as the author points out, such leverage is not always available to protesters.

So it is not just that you have the right tools, but you also need a pliable situation to give you more leverage as well.  And a lot more variables besides.