The events in Tunisia and Egypt remind me of Russell Hardin’s book One for all, in which he analyzes collective action as mainly a problem of coordination. When he discusses revolutions, Hardin writes that repressive regimes remain in power not because they are stronger than the people, but because they are better coordinated. The army and police, even when armed, are not strong enough to keep the population in check by force alone, but as long as resistance is not organized at a large scale, they can contain small groups of dissidents. Once a significant part of the population manages to unite behind a common cause, no army of police force is strong enough to stop the revolt.