[Health political analyses--contributing to societal self-reflection]

An important task for historical and social-science research is to facilitate reflections on what is going on in politics and in society in general. To foster such reflection, researchers should be able to freely ask questions without interference from politicians and research funds. And research should be published not only internationally, but also in the national languages. It is shown that governing technologies in health promotion have not changed substantially during the last century, but that the governing ambitions have increased. This may lead to reflections over which governing technologies are considered appropriate and defendable.