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This Afterword to the special section on Science Popularization in Francoist Spain draws general conclusions from its case studies. Most overarchingly, the different contributions show that popularization existed under this dictatorial regime, and hence does not require a Habermasian liberal-democratic public sphere. Four more specific lessons are also drawn, each shedding new light on either science popularization or dictatorial regimes. (1) Popularization has not only been a way to promote science, it has also been used to prop up dictatorial regimes by associating them with things scientific. (2) Totalitarian regimes are much less monolithic than they appear to be at the surface; they often harbor internal weaknesses and conflicts. (3) The study of science popularization in dictatorships can help open our eyes for comparable forms of propaganda in democracies. (4) Totalitarianism is best understood not as a universal phenomenon, but in its specific historical situatedness. Studying science popularization under Franco brings out the specific traits of this regime: the legacy of the Civil War, Spanish regionalism, and the international dependencies of the Francoist state.

"Die 'Antithese des 11. September' - dass der Islam unvereinbar mit westlichen Werten sei - hat ihre Überzeugungskraft verloren. Der arabische Frühling zeigte uns ein anderes Bild 'der Muslime' und 'des Westens'." (Autorenreferat)

1. Introduction / Rebecka Lettevall, Geert Somsen, and Sven Widmalm -- 2. Probing the master narrative of scientific internationalism : nationals and neutrals in the 1920s / Brigitte Schroeder-Gudehus -- 3. "Holland's calling" : Dutch scientists' self-fashioning as international mediators / Geert Somsen -- 4. "A superior type of universal civilisation" : science as politics in Sweden, 1917-1926 / Sven Widmalm -- 5. "Has the Swedish Academy of Sciences. seen nothing, heard nothing, and understood nothing?" : the First World War, biased neutrality, and the Nobel Prizes in science / Robert Marc Friedman -- 6. Pursuing common cultural ideals : Niels Bohr, neutrality, and international scientific collaboration during the interwar period / Henrik Knudsen and Henry Nielsen -- 7. Caught-up by politics : the Solvay Councils on Physics and the trials of neutrality / Kenneth Bertrams -- 8. The scientific construction of Swiss neutrality / Daniel Speich Chasse -- 9. A castle in the center : the first Czechoslovak republic and European cooperation (1918-1938) / Carlos Reijnen -- 10. Prague zionism, the Czechoslovak state, and the rise of German national socialism : the figure of Max Brod (1914-1933) / Gaelle Vassogne -- 11. Legitimacy through neutrality : resources of journalism in the international press visit to Sweden in 1923 / Patrik Lundell -- 12. Of twins and time: scientists, intellectual cooperation, and the League of Nations / Jimena Canales -- 13. Eye-deep in Hell : Heinrich Lammasch, the Confederation of Neutral States, and Austrian neutrality, 1899-1920 / Georg Cavallar -- 14. Nobel science of peace : Norwegian neutrality, internationalism and the Nobel Peace Prize / Vidar Enebakk -- 15. Neutrality and humanitarianism : Fridtjof Nansen and the Nansen passports / Rebecka Lettevall.