Getting closer...

0.5 hours writing, 5.5 hours researching/reading.

Good day today. I spent the afternoon at the NY Public Library, looking at an absolutely wonderful source, an electoral atlas of Colombia. With beautiful color maps and lots of tables, it breaks down regional patterns of electoral competition between the 1930s and 1980s. Important information for the question of subnational comparison, and I'm feeling good that this week I'll be able to decide on that.

Also continued reading about police systems in Latin America, particularly police reform in the last couple of decades, which is what the literature mostly focuses on. The disconnect between people's stated interest in security and the state's ability to provide it is so stark. Not to sound like a broken record, but I can't believe we don't know more about the history of police systems, where the corruption (or lack thereof) come from.

Also began reading about theories of institutional design, so I can start ruminating about that chapter, and understand better what pieces of that literature are relevant for my analysis, and where it fits in.

All in all, a pretty productive day. I'll be back at the NYPL tomorrow afternoon.