Scott's book "Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed" (1998) saw his first major foray into political science. In it, he showed how central governments attempt to force "legibility" on their subjects, and fail to see complex, valuable forms of local social order and knowledge. A main theme of this book, illustrated by his historic examples, is that states operate systems of power toward 'legibility' in order to 'see' their subjects correctly in a top-down, modernist, model that is flawed, problematic, and often ends poorly for subjects. The goal of local 'legibility' by the state is 'transparency' from the top down, from the top of the tower or the center/seat of the government, so the state can effectively operate upon their subjects. The details and arguments amplify Foucault's central notions of governmentality and operations of power.