Social media has become a powerful tool for ordinary people who want to stand up to injustice, take on political leaders and demand change. This means that leaders, particularly those with an authoritarian bent, view it as a threat. A new book examines how social media platforms are being used - and controlled - in several African countries, among them Kenya, Burundi, Nigeria and Senegal. Maggie Dwyer and Thomas Molony, the book’s editors, explore what the authors found. Meanwhile Tunisia, which was hailed as the only successful political transition to emerge from the wider Arab Spring movement, is grappling with a serious challenge to its fledgling democracy: life after the death of President Mohamed Beji Caid Essebsi. Clayton Besaw and Jonathan Powell consider what lies ahead for the North African nation.

Last month Felix Tshisekedi, the president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, announced that he would take over the running of his country’s Ebola response. Mosoka Fallah suggests this is a strategic, significant decision that’s likely to galvanise national and international support as the DRC’s battle against a year-long Ebola outbreak intensifies. Elsewhere Franca Nneka Alaribe and Keolebogile Shirley Motaung put their latest research into repairing damaged human tissue and bone with medicinal plant extracts under the microscope.

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