The period foregrounded governance as the central lens for understanding African policy, emphasizing the interactions among the state, global markets, and non-state actors. Research highlighted the depoliticization of development policy through aid programs, increased attention to decentralization and local governance, and the rising importance of civil society in policy processes. Methodologically, ethnographic and political-economic approaches dominated, linking micro-level case studies of projects and local institutions to macro-level global dynamics. Historical Significance: Together, these shifts reframed governance by treating the African state as both an instrument within global capitalism and a site of class struggle, while foregrounding the role of non-state actors in policy processes. The work catalyzed new research trajectories on decentralization, district-level governance, and governance as a central analytic in development policy, shaping subsequent debates and methodologies across Africa.