The Inflammable Alcohol Issue: Alcohol Policy Argumentation in the Programs of Political Parties in Finland, Norway and Sweden from the 1960s to the 1990s

Abstract

In Finland, Norway and Sweden the alcohol policy positions of political parties have been related to party ideologies in complex ways. Until the 1950s, Nordic parties had brought up temperance argumentation. The consensus was enhanced by the radicalism of the 1960s. Improved alcohol availability was argued for across the political map; the dividing factor was generation. Regional, cultural and religious differences, but not political ideology, were important. Because the liberal arguments in the political arena were aimed at civilizing drinking patterns, they belonged to the tradition of political rather than market liberalism. It was only at the outset of the “backlash” period, around 1974, that the alcohol issue was “politicized” according to party ideologies. The parties shifted from the traditional temperance argument toward a more goal-oriented attention to the consequences of drinking, rather than drinking itself. Nowadays the difference in attitudes toward market liberalism has had an increasing impact on the Nordic parties ‘ alcohol policies.