This report is an outcome of a Working Group of Africa democracy experts convened by ACSS to assess the implications of the historic political changes in North Africa for the rest of the continent. With its demands for greater political freedom, economic opportunity, and an end to systemic corruption, the Arab Spring has resonated deeply across Africa. This has been accompanied by noteworthy democratic advances in Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Niger, Nigeria, and Zambia, among other places.

The report evaluates the extent to which these still unfolding developments will be a catalyst for further democratic change in Sub-Saharan Africa, the durability of such change, and the influence of other drivers and counterweights to democratization in the region. The report concludes by identifying priority actions required of African and international partners to strengthen democratic norms in the region.