In recent years an increasing number of organizations involved in International Development Cooperation started to apply a Political Economy (PE) perspective within their analytical and operational work. Such a PE perspective enhances the understanding
of the presence/absence of development-oriented reforms in partner countries and the way development partners can most effectively facilitate the successful implementation of these reforms. The PE perspective seeks to unbundle the “political will” – or
lack thereof – for reforms or change processes by looking at formal and informal institutions, incentives as well as the influence of different actors in development/change processes. It seeks to find out why things work the way they do or why not – in
order to provide answers for development partners how they can support reforms more effectively.