Institutionalising Dissent: HIV/AIDS, the Post-Apartheid State and the Limits of Transnational Governance in South Africa

Abstract

Contemporary analyses of globalisation and transnational governance have depicted the state as an institution that is decreasing in significance due to the rising influence of external political and economic forces. However, a close examination of AIDS politics in South Africa reveals that the ANC-led government developed institutional arrangements and alliances with non-governmental organisations to limit the effect of transnational political influence during the administration of former President Thabo Mbeki. While the impact of increased international funding for non-governmental organisations on political processes has been underscored by critical research, I argue here that an inclusion of the shifting strategies that ‘developing’ states utilise to maintain political autonomy in the context of neoliberal globalisation may offer additional insight into the ways in which transnational political forces interact with the different institutional scales of the state. The degree of...