Complicit States

Complicit States examines how state-driven forces contribute to the persistence of violence in the lives of women in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. Cecilia Menjívar and Pamela Neumann's analysis moves beyond a focus on individual behaviors and weak law implementation to reveal how the region’s remilitarization, authoritarian practices, infiltration of conservative religious ideologies, and media manipulation and disinformation campaigns work together to undermine women’s rights and safety. These contemporary forces amplify long-standing and historically constituted social and economic disadvantages that women face over their lifetimes. Crucially, the book also examines how women’s organizations confront these conditions as they pursue gender justice and a life free from violence. While focused on Central America, this work remains broadly relevant to similar processes unfolding elsewhere in the world today—including in wealthy democracies.

Cover art by Lucía Morán Giracca, https://www.luciaenazul.com/