No Spring in Africa: How Sub-Saharan Africa Has Avoided the Arab Spring Phenomenon

This article explores in detail the conditions underpinning why Sub-Saharan Africa has avoided the Arab Spring phenomenon-despite the existence of extremely fertile grounds for political revolutions. Using a historical comparative method, the study draws chiefly from three Arab Spring countries (Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya), and identifies the key factors that aided the domino-effect of political revolutions in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region. It then contrasts these with the domino-inhibiting factors drawn from an examination of four Sub-Saharan African countries: Chad, Sudan, Cameroon, and Angola. The central argument emphasizes contextual regional uniqueness. While a set of factors unique to the MENA region aided a revolution domino effect, a combination of structural, domestic, and external factors equally unique to Sub-Saharan Africa have enabled the latter to evade the domino effect of the Arab Spring.