Health Promotion, Power And Political Science

摘要

'The people are the only power': such are the words heard on the radio from a demonstrator in Egypt on February 11, day of Hosni Moubarak's departure. The distribution of power and wealth is central to the recently intensified rebellions in countries of the 'Arab world' (1). In his forum, Roy (1) describes the population responsible for these popular upheavals as a generation which 'lives in social displacement', a situation deleterious for those who are affected by it. And yet, health promotion aims to reduce social inequalities in health (2) which, as Marmot reminds us (3), are an 'eminently political problem'. The link between health promotion and power seems evident. Consequently, we believe it important for us to use the opportunity offered by these events to reflect on this link and the interest the health promotion field has in studying the relationship between health promotion and the power held by concerned stakeholders, such as states and their institutions, civil society and social groups.