OPPORTUNITY TO REDEFINE POLITICAL WILL: A LITERATURE REVIEW STUDY

Abstract

Political will is widely recognized as a critical determinant of policy reform, anti-corruption efforts, and broader governance outcomes, yet its conceptualization and empirical treatment remain fragmented across disciplines. This study addresses this gap by conducting a systematic bibliometric review of political will research to map its intellectual foundations, thematic structure, and evolutionary trajectories. Following the PRISMA framework, 105 Scopus-indexed articles published between 1994 and 2024 were analyzed using Biblioshiny in R and VOSviewer. The analysis includes performance metrics, co-citation and bibliographic coupling, keyword co-occurrence, thematic mapping, and thematic evolution. The findings identify political will as a central motor theme, strongly linked to governance and corruption studies. Seminal contributions, particularly Brinkerhoff (2000), form the intellectual core of the field. Thematic evolution reveals a shift from broad governance debates toward a more focused emphasis on anti-corruption and institutional reform. This study contributes theoretically by integrating dispersed research streams and highlighting the interplay between agency, institutional structures, and legitimacy. Practically, it offers insights for policymakers, reform practitioners, and international actors on fostering and sustaining political will across diverse institutional contexts. Overall, the study provides a consolidated overview of political will scholarship and highlights directions for future interdisciplinary and context-sensitive research.