Introduction

The world has witnessed unprecedented waves of protest in the 21st century, and Africa has been part of this trend. This chapter provides an overview of the entire book and poses crucial questions that allow us to zoom in on protest and change in Africa: how transformative are protests? Do they really matter and, if so, how? How can we explain varying protest outcomes? The collection of chapters in the book offers illuminative answers to these questions, combining political opportunity approaches with other classical social movement theories. The book draws its evidence from 11 case studies that span the democratic and autocratic spectra, shedding light on the dynamic nature of political opportunities, the varying duration of protests and movements, and the different degrees and forms of change. Indeed, change goes beyond tangible political goals, and shapes perceptions and imaginations. It is also sustained that change is possible even in the most inhospitable environments and that the political opportunities, as well as other factors (framing strategies, organisational resources, etc.), go a long way towards explaining protest outcomes.