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What can be learned from the governance trajectory of African countries since the beginning of the twenty-first century? The first decade of the millennium saw promising growth and poverty reduction in much of the continent. Yet, Sub-Saharan Africa has also been the stage of a stream of governance reform failures and policy reversals, and many countries continue to suffer from the consequences of poor governance. This paper identifies four key governance trends on the continent. First, state institutions have developed unevenly. Second, the inclusiveness and accountability of institutions are constrained by weak checks and balances and patterns of exclusive power arrangements. Third, the inability of institutions to respond to social expectations threatens to turn civic engagement into distrust, populism and radicalization. Fourth, together these trends contribute to the rise of political instability. JEL Codes: D73, D74, H11, F51, N57.