The Middle East and North Africa region has not been immune to forms of contentious politics, having experienced independence struggles, revolutions, labor protests, and demonstrations for women’s rights. Yet it was not part of democracy’s third wave, which enveloped Southern Europe, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and parts of southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa between the mid-1970s and 1990, or the “color revolutions” that occurred later. The chapter surveys the literatures on revolutions and social movements, and on democracy, democracy waves, and democratic transitions, to determine the conditions that set off the Arab Spring protests and why democratization was limited to Tunisia only. The chapter shows that context and history matter, with no set formula for successful democratic transitions. The complex interaction of internal and external factors and forces shape the nature of prodemocracy protests and their outcomes. As such, the Arab Spring and its divergent outcomes should help refine theories of revolution, social movements, and democratic transitions.