ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the interwar external image of the Nordic region as being composed of 'happy societies', a construction which gained notably in strength as the 1930s progressed. This strong image was, therefore, both a produced and an actively distributed image. The positioning of the Scandinavian North, also including Finland at this point, was conditioned by world politics, and its respective domestic contexts varied, depending on different spatial perspectives. From a North American perspective, the Nordic region was interesting as a potential model for discovering an escape route from the economic hardships brought upon that society by the Great Depression. With regard to the political map of Europe, the Third International, or Comintern, had a great impact on how the Nordic countries were seen by more liberal leftist thinkers, such as the Czechoslovakian Karel Capek. The ideological war between fascism and democracy was fought in the realm of producing and mediating an image of the Nordic region.
