| My dissertation is an ethnography of governance in Colombia. I argue that despite widespread understandings of the Colombian state as failed, it actually plays an important role in the everyday lives of citizens. I argue that the Colombian state continues to govern through two key mechanisms: (1) the rapid construction of state institutions and policies that clutter symbolic and physical space; (2) The education of citizens such that they learn to be active participants in providing services traditionally forthcoming from the state, like security and justice. I explore how these interconnected processes of state and citizen formation are articulated through citizen culture, a novel crime reduction policy that has turned the capital city of Bogota into an international model of best governance practices. |
