She is broadly interested in the unfolding of politics beyond the central state, including, subnational undemocratic regimes in democratic countries, subnational judicial institutions, and the territorial reach of the state. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in the Journal of Politics, the Journal of Politics in Latin America, Studies in Comparative International Development , Latin American Research Review, Journal of Democracy (en Espanol), Revista de Ciencia Politica (Chile), among others. Her dissertation, from which her book originates, received the 2010 Juan Linz Prize for Best Dissertation in the Comparative Study of Democracy awarded by the American Political Science Association.