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This open access edited volume shines new light on the history of propaganda and persuasion during the Nordic welfare epoch. A common analytical framework is developed that highlights transnational and transmedial perspectives rather than national or monomedial histories. The return of propaganda in contemporary debate underlines the need to historically contextualize the role and function of persuasive communication activities in the Nordic region and beyond. Building on an empirically situated approach, the chapters in this volume break new ground by covering a range of themes, from cultural diplomacy and nation branding to media materiality and information infrastructures. In doing so, the book stresses that the Nordic welfare epoch, with its associated epithet the “Nordic Model”, was built not only on governance, social security and economic productivity, but also on propaganda and persuasion.
In Stockholm in January of 1945, an assembly of Swedish diplomats and businessmen initiated an organization that was to improve the country’s reputation abroad. The new, semi-governmental Swedish Institute was charged with explaining Sweden’s policy of neutrality during the war, with encouraging peace-building, and with promoting foreign trade in the new international world order. Original and insightful, this account analyzes the policies, funding, and national narratives of the Swedish Institute. Providing a historical perspective on the politics of Swedish propaganda and explaining how ideas of communication shaped the Institute’s work and its representations of Sweden, this record also offers a comparative perspective on American national identity and its inherent notions of national exceptionalism.
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