A Study of Political Will to Understand Anti-Corruption Policy Selection

The current literature argues that the failure of anti-corruption policies is closely related to a lack of political will. However, the political will to fight corruption cannot explain why different political leaders adopt different anti-corruption policies. How can the concept of political will explain the variation in the implementation of anti-corruption policies? To answer this research question, this paper suggests a modified definition of political will: the demonstrated commitment of a political leader to adopt and implement a specific policy. To test the usability of this definition, this article uses the comparative-historical method in an exploration involving two countries: China and India. These case studies show that the alternative definition helps us better understand the different choices of political leaders.