scholarly journals The controversial discourse on beer in Iceland

2012 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hildigunnur Ólafsdóttir
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
The State ◽  
Alcohol Policy ◽  
Medical Doctors ◽  
Total Consumption ◽  
Consumption Model ◽  
Total Consumption Model ◽  
Newspaper Articles

Aims This study investigates the motives and discourses around the decision taken by the Icelandic parliament in 1989 to legalise beer sales after a prohibition of 74 years. A bill was passed in 1988 that allowed the selling of beer in licensed restaurants and the state alcohol monopoly stores. Design The sources used for this study are mainly newspaper articles and other materials and reports published in the period 1980 to 1989. Results The passing of the bill was preceded by many controversial discourses in Iceland. Lobbying groups with commercial interests campaigned for the legalisation of beer, while representatives of the alcoholism movement took no formal stance on the issue, parliamentarians broke from party lines and medical doctors were split into two factions. Common questions included the plausibility of the total consumption model, various understandings of WHO recommendations, diverging interpretations of other countries’ experiences of beer, and different views on how beer would affect individuals suffering from alcoholism. Conclusions The changes in Icelandic alcohol policy to legalise beer were in keeping with contemporary societal processes of globalisation and modernisation, but public health arguments were given less priority. While the decision to legalise beer increased the commercial functions of the state alcohol monopoly, it also strengthened the monopoly's role as an actor in alcohol policy.

scholarly journals In fear of a reversal back to the spirits-drinking era — the 2004 decrease of Finnish alcohol taxes in public discourse

2012 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matilda Hellman ◽  
Thomas Karlsson
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Alcohol Policy ◽  
Alcoholic Beverages ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Drinking Patterns ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
Public Health Perspective ◽  
Total Consumption

Aims The study investigates how the dissimilar tax reductions for different alcoholic beverages (spirits, wine and beer) were debated during the large tax decrease on alcoholic beverages in Finland in 2004. Design and Data The material comprises parliamentary proceedings and discussions, as well as daily press items (=105) from 2003–2004. Content analyses, both quantitative and qualitative, were performed. Results The parliament's discussion on the unequal treatment of different beverage types concerned mostly the overall framing of a public health perspective, differencing between consumption of “spirits” and “non-spirits”. The mass media framed the question mostly from the industry's point of view. Neither a clear support of the total consumption model (excluding specification of beverage sort), nor a strong liberalisation model for alcohol policy were expressed in the materials. Varying stances were merely motivated within a paradigm of “changing drinking patterns”. Conclusions The differing treatment of different beverage types, especially the large reductions in spirits taxes, was crystallised as the fundamental public health concern surrounding the decision to lower alcohol taxes. In the end of the article the authors ask whether the lack of clear stances other than the drinking pattern framing could imply that the Finnish alcohol policy debate has become more heterogeneous, neutralised or resigned in its basic nature.

The total volume of gambling and the prevalence of gambling problems

2018 ◽  
pp. 71-86
Author(s):  
Pekka Sulkunen ◽  
Thomas F. Babor ◽  
Jenny Cisneros Örnberg ◽  
Michael Egerer ◽  
Matilda Hellman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Fraction ◽  
Low Risk ◽  
Gambling Problems ◽  
Adaptation Theory ◽  
Total Consumption ◽  
Excessive Gambling ◽  
Consumption Model ◽  
Total Consumption Model ◽  
Gambling Activities ◽  
Gambling Expenditures

The total consumption model (TCM) implies that only a small fraction of gamblers account for a very large fraction of all gambling activities and of all gambling expenditures. This does not necessarily mean that every gambler with high gambling expenses has problems, but the probability increases with increasing intensity. Ironically, heavy gamblers are influenced by the activities of those who participate only moderately: the more people take up gambling, the more likely vulnerable individuals will be recruited as well. The importance of total volume of gambling in society is reinforced by the fact that the accumulated harm caused by low-risk gamblers in fact exceeds the harm caused by excessive gambling. Although adaptation theory suggests that harmful consequences recede once the novelty of innovation subsides, every increase in consumption increases the risk of harm.

scholarly journals Obstacles to the Implementation of an Integrated National Alcohol Policy in Ireland: Nannies, Neo-Liberals and Joined-Up Government

2009 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 343-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
SHANE BUTLER
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Economic Recession ◽  
Alcohol Problems ◽  
The State ◽  
Alcohol Policy ◽  
Value Systems ◽  
Public Health Perspective ◽  
The Public ◽  
Partnership Model

AbstractThis article explores how proponents of a public health model of alcohol policy have, for more than a quarter of a century, argued consistently but unsuccessfully for an integrated national alcohol policy in the Republic of Ireland. It looks in particular at the past decade, a time when increases in alcohol consumption and related problems strengthened the case for such an integrated policy, and when managerial innovations in the sphere of cross-cutting management appeared to provide a template for its implementation. A number of explanations are offered for the refusal of successive governments to respond to what its advocates see as the only rational, evidence-based approach to the prevention of alcohol problems. It is argued that, unlike the Nordic countries, the political culture of independent Ireland has never been one in which the state could unilaterally impose strict alcohol control policies as a feature of its broader vision of the welfare state. It is also argued that during the recent period of economic prosperity (the so-called ‘Celtic Tiger’ era) the country was characterised by a neo-liberal policy climate, which was specifically antipathetic to the idea that the state should interfere directly in the alcohol market with a view to preventing related problems. It is suggested that the social partnership model of governance, to which many people attributed the country's economic success, created an atmosphere of consensualism within which the state as mediator between the two main protagonists (the public health lobby and the drinks industry) was unwilling to challenge the drinks industry. It is also concluded that this failure to create a national alcohol policy based on public health principles demonstrates the limitations of the cross-cutting, or ‘joined-up’, approach to public management in those areas of social policy characterised by clashing value systems or fundamental conflicts of economic interest. Finally, it is acknowledged that in Ireland, as elsewhere, neo-liberal certitudes have been effectively dethroned by the economic recession and banking crisis of late 2008; whether these more straitened economic circumstances will provide a better fit for the ‘nanny state’ ideals of the public health perspective on alcohol remains to be seen.

scholarly journals The total consumption model applied to gambling: Empirical validity and implications for gambling policy

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 66-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingeborg Rossow
Keyword(s):  
Problem Gambling ◽  
Policy Implication ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
Gambling Behaviour ◽  
Total Consumption ◽  
Empirical Validity ◽  
Consumption Model ◽  
Total Consumption Model

Aim: The total consumption model (TCM) originates from studies of the distribution of alcohol consumption and posits that there is a strong association between the total consumption and the prevalence of excessive/harmful consumption in a population. The policy implication of the TCM is that policy measures which effectively lead to a reduction of the total consumption, will most likely also reduce the extent of harmful consumption and related harms. Problem gambling constitutes a public health issue and more insight into problem gambling at the societal level and a better understanding of how public policies may impact on the harm level, are strongly needed. The aim of this study was to review the literature pertaining to empirical validity of the TCM with regard to gambling behaviour and problem gambling and, on the basis of the literature review, to discuss the policy implications of the TCM. Methods: The study is based on a literature mapping through systematic searches in literature databases, and forward and backward reference searches. Results: The literature searches identified a total of 12 empirical studies that examined the total consumption model or provided relevant data. All but one of these studies found empirical support for the TCM; that is, a positive association between population gambling mean and prevalence of excessive or problem gambling. Such associations were found both with cross-sectional data and with longitudinal data. Conclusion: There is a small but fairly consistent literature lending empirical support to the total consumption model. An important policy implication is that interventions which are successful in reducing overall gambling are likely also to reduce problem gambling incidence.

scholarly journals New narratives, new narrators? Alcohol and alcohol policies in the Swedish press during the 1990s

2000 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-79
Author(s):  
Börje Olsson
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Problems ◽  
The State ◽  
Alcohol Policy ◽  
Total Consumption ◽  
Drinking Habits ◽  
Alcohol Policies ◽  
Daily Press ◽  
Swedish Society ◽  
Alcohol Issue ◽  
The Individual

During the years around 1990, several policy and economic events occurred which had significant effects on the Swedish society. In this context, critique against the welfare state grew and the traditional roles of the state and the individual were challenged. The legitimacy and efficiency of Swedish alcohol policy was also called into question. The article describes and analyses how portrayals of alcohol, alcohol problems and alcohol policies have changed during the 1990s in the Swedish press. Despite the growth of media like television and the Internet, the daily press must still be considered an important source of information and also an active constructor of reality. The analysis is based on different samples of press articles during the studied period. Special attention is paid to different actors/narrators, their argumentation and how they perceive the individual and the state as legitimate actors and controllers of our drinking habits. The analysis shows that the dominant restrictive alcohol discourse, based on the total consumption model, public health perspectives and universal and restrictive alcohol policy measures, gradually has been challenged by a liberal discourse in which individual freedom, market liberalism and consumer perspectives are put forward as guiding principles for alcohol policies. A ‘sensible drinking’ perspective has seriously weakened the traditional perspective where alcohol- related problems have been situated as the legitimate foundation for policies. Finally, the ongoing redefinition of the alcohol issue also has made it possible for new narrators, for instance, business representatives, to take part in and significantly influence the alcohol discourse.

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