Educational Alternatives, Volume 12, 2014

Abstract: The subject of cooperation between the United States of America and the People's Republic of Bulgaria during the period of the long political and military confrontation more commonly known as the Cold War may sound rather strange, outwardly. Parallel to the opposition between the two socio-political systems (democracy and communism) embodied in an arms race, ideological confrontation and psychological war, specific forms of cooperation developed in the educational and scientific area which were beneficial to both sides. For Bulgaria (as well as for the other Eastern European countries), these forms of cooperation were the only legitimate way of access to the science, research and technologies of the United States. The Americans for their part used the educational and scientific exchange as a “channel” to penetrate the Eastern European country isolated by the West, and also as a gateway for American influence in the educational and research institutions otherwise closed to them.