Since the 1950s, the research field of social movements has caught the interest of many social scientists. The focus has mostly lied on the emergence of such movements and their early developments. There is surprisingly little research on the decline of social movements and the factors behind their weakening. This study aims to contribute to filling that research gap. The Zapatista movement in southern Mexico serves as a case study in this research, as it has been perceived to have declined since the first violent uprising in 1994. By using the method of process tracing, the Zapatista movement is explored and analysed in regard to the factors that might have contributed to its disappearance from the international spotlight. The analysis is based on two different social movement theories, the model of movement decline and the political process theory. The results of this study show that the theories used are revealing and relevant to understand the Zapatista movement, as their application on the case study provide several factors explaining the movement’s weakening. However, the analysis also shows the limits of the theories, as they were unable to explain some factors which led to the decline of the Zapatista movement. Recent news of the Zapatistas resurfacing further questions the previous assumptions about their decline. This study is part of an increasing attempt within social movement research to explain what happens in the final stages of a social movement. Through the examination of existing theory with a case study, this thesis contributes to the research field and hopes to incite future research within this topic.