'Negotiated Liberalization': Stakeholder Politics and Communication Sector Reform in South Africa

Much has been written about the seeming inexorable march of globalization and the power of global capitalism to mold state policies according to its requirements. Yet the nation-state remains the center of political action and social solidarity. Notwithstanding the transformational power accorded to globalization, any given country's public institutions remain more tied to the specific political architecture of states than they are directly determined by the forces of globalization. This can be seen in the communication realm. Old monopoly structures in telecommunications and broadcasting have been giving way to new models of liberalization, competition, and privatization. Such models are pushed by transnational corporations, multilateral organizations, and trade regimes. But though globalization creates pressures, opportunities and constraints, communication reforms are shaped largely by domestic actors through domestic political institutions. Post-apartheid South Africa is a case in point. The end of apartheid in South Africa entailed not just a political transformation from racial authoritarianism to one person-one vote democracy, it encompassed the