What makes a social movement?

Lim, pg. 246

"rise, development and success (or failure) of social movements are conditioned--constrained and enabled--by forces or structures largely beyond the control of even the most capable leaders and individual activists."
in my own words: social movements are either failures or successes because of structures they cannot control--or at least partly so. how successful a social movement is is not entirely based on how strongly the people protesting believe in it, or how many people protest, or even how good the leaders are. the structure (aka government) has a lot to do with it. if they won't even listen to protesters, obviously, the movement will not be successful. so, an authoritarian regime that completely ignores protesters will not be as affected by collective action.

sidney tarrow (as quoted in lim) says that political opportunity structure create opportunities for social change.
in my own words: that's what i just said above.

lim's words: "changes in the underlying political process (or structure) create 'openings' that enable the mobilization of resource-poor actors into new movements."
in my own words: people who are poor don't have a lot of ways to protest the government, at least not the same way the rich and powerful do. the rich can buy off the government. the powerful can exchange favors with the government. the poor, however, only have each other. if there are openings in the government, where the government is willing to listen to the people (like in a democracy), then they have an opportunity to act collectively for change. if the government becomes less democratic, however, then these openings close. where groups could peacefully protest before, they are no longer able to. so, their options become either to give up or resort to violent means.

"timing and fate of movements are largely dependent upon the opportunities afforded to activists by changes in the broader political system or structure"
in my own words: whether a movement is successful or not depends a lot on the timing of it. if the government is especially vulnerable (perhaps there is disagreement within, or they are turning to outside sources for solutions to problems) then a peaceful social movement has a chance. however, if the government refuses to listen, then the people have to resort to violence to get their attention.