This article deals with Swiss state agencies in the fields of HIV/AIDS and alcohol-related problems. We are interested in their development over the lust decade: What types of societal regulations did the state establish during the eighties and what are their effects? Why were they enacted? Developments in these fields can be seen as a transformation of the relation between the state and civil society. As a liberal state holding the principle of subsidiarity as a major tool, the Swiss state first became a limited welfare state, then a provoker state trying to stimulate autonomous societal organization.