In Cold War in Universities: U.S. and Soviet Cultural Diplomacy, 1945–1990 Natalia Tsvetkova recounts how the United States and the Soviet Union aspired to transform overseas academic institutions according to their political aims during the Cold War.

The book depicts how U.S. and Soviet attempts to impose certain values, disciplines, teaching models, structures, statutes, and personnel at universities in divided Germany, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, both Vietnams, and Cuba as well as Guatemala were foiled by sabotage, ignorance, and resistance on the part of the local academic elite, particularly professors.

Often at odds with local academic communities, U.S. and Soviet university policies endured unexpected frustrations as their efforts toward Americanization and Sovietization faced developmental setbacks, grassroots resistance, and even political fear.