As North African and Middle Eastern countries move from revolution to democracy, the reform of the security sector needs to be tackled.  The authors argue that the post-Arab Spring security sector reform faces three main challenges: to redefine the mission of security forces, to communicate the reform process to the general public and to secure the support and assistance from external partners (in particular the US and Europe).

The transformation of the security instruments under the “serve and protect” principle is key to speeding up transitions to democracy.