Why Does Putin Refuse to Adopt Anti-Corruption Policies?: The Impact of Putin’s Governance Strategy on Political Will to Fight Corruption

Some scholars argue that political leaders reject anti-corruption policies due to a lack of political will. However, sufficient and profound explanations of what influences political will are lacking. This study builds a theoretical model that contains a new term: governance strategy. Governance strategy is a grand plan to fortify political leaders` power within national affairs. Leaders want to maximize their power to govern their people while responding to international and national circumstances to retain their power. To react to these circumstances, leaders strengthen their governance strategy, and their governance strategy increases or decreases political will. To evaluate the validity of this assertion, this study examines Russia's political situation and explains the circumstances that Putin faces. Putin`s governance strategy is to control the various political apparatuses through vertical power. To fortify his governance strategy, Putin avoids introducing reformative anti-corruption policies that might damage his relationship with corrupt elites.