The Will to Improve

“The Will to Improve will be taught and read alongside the works of James Scott, James Ferguson, Aiwha Ong, and Timothy Mitchell, and others who weave ethnography, theory, and history together, for it is similarly crafted in many respects, clearly and well written.” - Barbara Cruikshank, American Ethnologist

“The Will to Improve is a perceptive ethnography of ‘improvement,’ a receding horizon, continually strived for and redefined by colonial and postcolonial experts. . . . Li is nimble in her theoretical poaching and blending, but she is also blessed with a rich set of materials with which to make her case.” - Danilyn Rutherford, Pacific Affairs

“A work of exceptional scholarship, this book should be required reading for scholars and practitioners of development alike.” - Manish K. Thakur, Development and Change

“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

"There is no question that Li has raised the bar as regards providing a serious anthropological critique of development. . . . her desire to demonstrate that practices of government ‘limit the possibilities for engaging with targets of improving schemes as political actors’ (p. 281) and to show the ‘critical potential of an ethnography of government’ (p. 282) are both achieved with extraordinary clarity, brilliance, and élan. A very fine book, indeed.” - Michael Watts, American Anthropologist

“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