For over two decades, since the start of the so-called second wave of democratization, many voices in the Arab world have been calling for the implementation of radical reforms to the systems, institutions, frameworks and practices of all levels of governance in the region.

The aim of this regional report is to provide meaningful insight into the reality of local democracy in the Arab world, based on the results of self-assessments carried out in a number of Arab communities in Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and Yemen.

The report includes a tool for carrying out self-assessments of the state of local democracy. The assessment tool was developed by International IDEA and has been used with great success to carry out assessments in many countries, including new as well as old democracies, throughout the world.