way the West continues to represent the former colonial world. International development uses an "anti-politics" that ultimately produces failure, despite the best intentions. Finally, studies also point out how development efforts often attempt to de-politicize change by a focus on instrumental assistance (like a school building) but not on the objective conditions that led to the development failure (e.g., the state's neglect of rural children at the expense of urban elite), nor the content of what the school might or might not teach. In this sense, the critique of international development focuses on the insidious effects of projects that at the least offer band-aids that address symptoms but not causes, and that at the worst promote projects that systematically redirect economic resources and profit to the West. Applied anthropology in development While anthropological studies critique the Western assumptions and political context of development projects, anthropologists also consult on and work within aid institutions in the creation and implementation of development projects. While economists look at aggregate measures like gross national product and per capita income, as well as measures of income distribution and economic inequality in a society, anthropologists can provide a more fine-grained analysis of the qualitative information behind these numbers, such as the nature of the social groups involved and the social significance of the composition of income. Thus, development anthropologists often deal with assessing the important qualitative aspects of development sometimes ignored by an economic approach. See also Development aid Postcolonialism References Further reading Gardner, Katy and David Lewis, 1996, Anthropology, Development and the Post-Modern Challenge, Chicago, IL: Pluto Press. Isbister, John, 1998, Promise Not Kept: The Betrayal of Social Change in the third World. Fourth Edition. West Hartford, CT: Kumarian Press. Olivier de Sardan J.-P. 1995, Anthropologie et développement : essai en socio-anthropologie du changement social. Paris, Karthala. Murray-Li, Tania, 2007, The Will to Improve: Governmentality, Development, and the Practice of Politics. Durham: Duke University Press. Schuurman, F.J., 1993, Beyond the Impasse. New Direction in Development Theory. Zed Books, London. Anthropology Anthropology