Axess is ushering in the new decade by expanding its format. We are extending our review section with an additional eight pages, which means that we are intensifying our coverage of foreign non-fiction. We are doing so not least because we see a dearth of this in the other media in this respect. As the national newspapers increasingly move toward integrating their entertainment sections with traditional cultural material, which in essence means a growing focus on the latest trends in Swedish literature, pop music, fashion, food and film, we stubbornly continue to head in the opposite direction and are investing in a classic liberal education and making room for views that are part of the international debate but which have a hard time resonating in Sweden.

While other publications are making endless cutbacks in academically oriented criticism in favour of Teflon thinking and position-taking, we are trying to create space for the kind of critical, penetrating perspective once...