  The development of long-range ferromagnetic (FM) order in dilute magnetic
topological insulators can induce dissipationless electronic surface transport
via the quantum anomalous Hall effect. We measure the magnetic excitations in a
prototypical magnetic topological crystalline insulator,
Sn$_{0.95}$Mn$_{0.05}$Te, using inelastic neutron scattering. Neutron
diffraction and magnetization data indicate that our Sn$_{0.95}$Mn$_{0.05}$Te
sample has no FM long-range order above a temperature of 2 K. However, we
observe slow, collective FM fluctuations ($<$~70 $\mu$eV), indicating proximity
to FM order. We also find a series of sharp peaks originating from local
excitations of antiferromagnetically (AF) coupled and isolated Mn-Mn dimers
with $J_{\rm<EMAIL_ADDRESS>The simultaneous presence of collective and
localized components in the magnetic spectra highlight different roles for
substituted Mn ions, with competition between FM order and the formation of
AF-coupled Mn-Mn dimers.
