History
Nadesan (2008) quotes Deleuze (19995, p. 119) who states, "Thought thinks its own history (the past), but in order to free itself from what it thinks (the present), and be able finally to 'think otherwise'" (p.12); this is supposed to show how we interpret the past based on the present in hopes of understanding the future. (Risk purports to harness the past to avoid future problems).
Nadesan (2008) quotes Nikolas Rose (1999) who presents a Focault-based way to look at a history of the present (p. 12). These include: 1) problemitizations: the emergence of problems in regards to particular concerns; 2) Explanations: operative concepts 3) Authorities: the construction of particular persons of authority; 4) subjectives; 5); strategies.
References:
Nadesan, M.H. (2008). Governmentality, biopower, and everyday life. Florence, KY: Routledge.