ABSTRACT
This chapter reconstructs the emergence of people living with HIV and AIDS (PLHA) as a transnational social movement using the example of the Thai Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS (TNP+). It argues that the PLHA movement in general, and the TNP+ group of Thailand in particular, can be analyzed retrospectively as a transnational social movement, both in terms of its organizational structure and of its role in the process of transnationalization of the state. The chapter shows that the Thai HIV/AIDS policy was developed under globalized conditions, where questions of global standards of IPR protection and health governance were negotiated and where transnationally organized antagonistic social forces evolved as crucial actors. It analyzes the social movement of PLHA in Thailand and argues that one aspect of their quality as transnational political actors can be seen in the role they played for the transnationalization processes of the Thai state.
