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Articles authored by Thompson, Martha

Articles

Women and war: protection through empowerment in El Salvador
Women, gender, and conflict: making the connections
This review essay explores the need to make the roles of women and of men visible in order to understand the different ways in which they are involved in, and affected by, armed conflict; and also to examine the ways in which gender roles, the relations between women and men, are changed during and as a result of such conflict. The author reviews current literature on the political economy of conflict, and feminist writing on women in conflict, noting that the former tends to be gender-blind while the latter generally fails to take an understanding of the wider Realpolitik into account.
Empowerment and Survival: Humanitarian Work in Civil Conflict (Part I)
This two-part article explores the experience of living and working for a poverty-focused NGO in a civil war whose roots lay in the chronically inequitable distribution of power and access to resources. Based on 12 years' work in Central America, principally with refugees from El Salvador, the article reflects on the demands and constraints placed on international aid workers in the context of counter-insurgency; and on the ways in which relationships with local organisations and NGOs are affected.
Empowerment and survival: humanitarian work in civil conflict (Part II)
This two-part article explores the experience of living and working for poverty-focused NGOs in a civil war whose roots lay in the chronically inequitable distribution of power and access to resources. Drawing on 12 years' work in Central America, the author reflects on the demands and constraints placed on international aid workers in the context of civil conflict; and on the ways in which relationships with local counterpart organisations and NGOs are affected. Empowerment and participation are examined from the perspective of those who refuse to play the role of war victims.

Symposium Papers

Transition in El Salvador: a multi-layered process (Paper from Symposium)
This paper reflects on the obstacles facing Salvadorean NGOs in the transition from war to peace. Firstly, on the difficulties inherent in the peace process itself: insufficient structural change; the trap of electoral politics; a transition process that was too narrowly defined; and the impossibility of reconciliation without addressing the need for collective memory, public responsibility, or justice.
Conflict, reconstruction, and reconciliation: reciprocal lessons for NGOs in Southern Africa and Central America (Paper from Symposium)
This symposium, co-hosted by the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) and the South Africa Office of Oxfam, drew together individuals and organisations working in the areas of violence, conflict and peace-building. Here, Thompson presents a comparative study of reconciliation and reconstruction processes in post-conflict Central America and Southern Africa.