"Undisciplined" drinking, multi-sectoralism and political power: Examining problematisations in the Botswana alcohol policy

Abstract

The Botswana government has recently ramped up efforts to control alcohol consumption through various measures. These include the alcohol tax levy, reduction in trading hours for bars and other licenced premises and increased penalties for alcohol-related road offenses. Whilst these efforts have recently received considerable attention, the processes of alcohol policy development remain unknown and understudied. In this paper, I examine the alcohol policy processes in Botswana using What's the Problem Represented to be (WPR), a poststructural analytic approach that emphasises problematisations in policies. Drawing on alcohol-associated policy documents, I identify two key problematisations that relate to, (1) an emphasis on an "undisciplined" drinker, and (2) an appeal to an internationally-endorsed multi-sectoralism. I explore these problematisations as political formations and periodise them to the year 2008 when they were canonised. I argue that "undisciplined drinking" and an internationally-endorsed multi-sectoralism neglect the social and cultural contexts of drinking, pathologise drinking and do not consider other forms of knowledge. Unmaking current alcohol policy representations is needed to allow for the 'emergence' of alternative conceptualisations of the alcohol 'problem' in Botswana.

Keywords: Alcohol policy; Botswana; Multi-sectoralism; Problematisation; “Undisciplined” drinking.