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Resumen

This dissertation makes three arguments about the relationship between repression
and mobilization in authoritarian regimes. First, repression is very unlikely to make all
mobilization disappear completely, even public opposition. But systematic violent
repression against specific targets forces them underground, and some actors are more
capable than others of surviving those circumstances. A compartmentalized
organizational structure and underground organizing skills make survival more likely
when repression is most extreme. Second, public and nonviolent opposition is possible
even against the most repressive regimes, as long as dissidents can rely on local protector
institutions to reduce the cost of high-risk activism. Protector institutions are agents that
the regime relies on for legitimacy and are willing to lend some safeguards to the
opposition. Third, at the very local level and with narrow objectives, civil society can not
only survive but also thrive under military dictatorships. These small and atomized
efforts can, when there is a considerable reduction in state violence, transform into potent
challenges against the state in the form of mass protests after a process of alliance
formation.

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