Following the uprising in Tunisia, media attention focused on Algeria, which many believed was next in line. Certainly, the dire socioeconomic conditions prevailing in the country, coupled with the government´s paralysis due to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika´s illness, supported such a prognosis. In 2010 and 2011 waves of protests spread throughout the country. The regime has consistently sought to quell the protests in all the sectors by using its redistributive capacity. However, the capacity of the regime to buy its way out does not fully explain why Algerian have not risen up to emulate what the Tunisians, Egyptians, Libyans, Yemenis and Syrians have done.