The Quest for Transnational Authority, the Anti-Apartheid Movements of the European Community

The anti-apartheid movement has been widely recognized as an important global actor in the second half of the twentieth century. This article makes a contribution to recent efforts to understand anti-apartheid as a transnational social movement. Its primary focus lies with the anti-apartheid organizations in the countries of the European Community (EC) and their attempts to influence the decision making of their national governments. The EC process of foreign policy cooperation, it is argued, offered a serious constraint to lobbying activities geared at the national level. Anti-apartheid organizations therefore felt compelled to coordinate their activities at a transnational level. This culminated in the creation of the Liaison Group of National Anti-Apartheid Movements in the Countries of the European Community.