Rethinking Alcohol and Conflict: The Politics of Alcohol in Post-war Sri Lanka and Nepal

Abstract

Existing research on the relationship between alcohol and conflict has focused on displaced populations and viewed alcohol largely as a driver of post-war social problems such as trauma and violence. We draw on qualitative research in Sri Lanka and Nepal to build a more complex picture of alcohol’s role in post-war societies that is attuned to its political economy dimensions and its politically symbolic role. This article develops a comparative and multi-disciplinary approach to demonstrate how narratives about alcohol can reinforce existing processes of social marginalisation and how alcohol can play an important symbolic role in post-war politics.