The American economics professor Tyler Cowen, in his influential study Creative Destruction (2002), gives several examples of similar phenomena: how the increased trade and mobility between countries and continents is revitalising local culture. As a consequence of that which constitutes the theme of this issue of Axess, namely the development of Europe and the EU, questions are raised about protectionism and openness. Those who advocate protectionism – whether critics of immigration or left populists – often paint a threatening picture of a world where cultural differences become blurred. Against this background, it may be of interest to consider the causes of some of the more extensive attacks on the unique Swedish culture in the post-war period: the devastation of Swedish city centres during the 1960s and 1970s. Or the developments that marked the Swedish school system during the same period, with the similar result of consigni...