While recent scholarship has highlighted how participating countries at the interwar world's fairs competed by displaying ideological versions of modernity, the alternative national projections of smaller states have received less attention. This study of the Swedish national pavilions from Brussels 1935 via Paris 1937 to New York 1939 analyses how a loose but well-connected network of communicators over the course of three fairs responded to, and used, the evolving trends at these international mega-events. In the threatening international atmosphere of the late 1930s, the network convinced the Swedish government to seize the opportunities opened up by the crises of capitalism and democracy. The 1937 and 1939 pavilions showcased Sweden at the world's fairs as an example of the successful handling of economic and socio-political crisis, and the experience had a formative impact on the post-war institutionalisation of Swedish cultural diplomacy.

虽然最近的奖学金强调了参加两次世界大战之间的博览会的参加国如何通过展示意识形态的现代性来竞争，但较小国家对国家的替代性预测却很少受到关注。这项对瑞典国家馆从1935年的布鲁塞尔到1937年的巴黎到1939年的纽约的展馆的研究，分析了在三个展览会期间松散但联系良好的传播者网络如何应对和利用这些国际大型盛会不断发展的趋势。在1930年代后期充满威胁的国际气氛中，该网络说服瑞典政府抓住资本主义和民主危机带来的机遇。1937年和1939年的展馆在世界博览会上展示了瑞典，以此作为成功处理经济和社会政治危机的一个例子，