The Will to Improve

Reviews / Votes

"The Will to Improve is an exceptionally valuable and well-conceived book. It speaks to some of the most significant theoretical discussions of recent years, effectively linking studies of 'governmentality,' debates about neoliberalism, and the increasingly rich literature on the social history of colonialism."-James Ferguson, author of Global Shadows: Africa in the Neoliberal World Order "Magisterially linking the contradictions of peripheral capitalism with the limits of governmentality, Tania Murray Li offers a view of developmental rule that draws productively on Gramsci and Foucault. She provides perhaps the most brilliant account to date of neoliberal development in action. A tour de force."-Michael Watts, Director, Center for African Studies, and Class of 1963 Professor of Geography, University of California, Berkeley "Tania Murray Li brilliantly combines the analytic rubrics of Foucault, Marx, and Gramsci to explain 'the will to improve' as an essential though poorly understood component of rule in Indonesia. This is not your grandmother's ethnography: the well-written chapters are packed with the conflicts, contestations, and uncertainties that characterize power relations. Deeply engaged with the processes and practices that shape peoples' lives, Li's book should be required reading for scholars interested in how power works and for development practitioners everywhere."-Nancy Lee Peluso, author of Rich Forests, Poor People: Resource Control and Resistance in Java "Insightful and engaging, this is a fascinating book. Drawing on an impressive array of historical and ethnographic sources, including her own fieldwork, Tania Murray Li offers a brilliant account of 'expert' interventions that, since the end of the nineteenth century, have endeavoured to improve the welfare of a number of communities in Sulawesi (Indonesia)." - Dimitri Tsintjilonis (Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute)