ABSTRACT
The chapter reflects on the contradiction that is at the heart of alcohol’s role in state formation processes. While alcohol and the nexus of drinking culture was, and continues to be a vital source of revenue for the state, it simultaneously represented a significant danger. Psychoactive substances are central to the formation of identity, so just as they have been central to the cultivation of official political communities, they have been central to the cultivation of dissident political communities. Thus, they have a long association with dissent, rebellion and revolution. They have also been problematised, as they are associated with a weakening of the military capacity of the state, due to their enervating effect on the populace, particularly as success in war became based on high levels of interdependence in armies and the political community at large. The chapter also reflects on the link between alcohol pathologies and the profound disruption that state formation causes at its peripheries, as a consequence of imperial expansion and war. Alcohol abuse is closely associated with PTSD, and PTSD is closely associated with both soldiers and communities, such as Aborigines, Maoris, and Native American Indians who are the victims of imperial expansion. The chapter concludes by reflecting on the link between the status of being a victim of the ongoing disruption caused by imperial expansion, and the rejection of alcohol as part of a religious stance, which is shown to be a long-established aspect of a protest against empire.
