Thread by @I_Katchanovski

I saw Mikhail #Gorbachev personally in mid-1990s in Washington DC bookstore during his book signing, when I worked as research assistant at nearby US Institute of Peace & circa 2000 during his speech at Woodrow Wilson Center when I worked there as Lipset’s research assistant 1/

I didn't talk to #Gorbachev during these events since I prefer to keep distance from politicians. But his glasnost policy saved me from expulsion from #Kyiv National Economic University in Soviet #Ukraine for my undergraduate thesis that was deemed politically dangerous. 2/

Department chair told me that I would be expelled from university in Kyiv in 1990 because I proposed to write my final thesis based on theories of Western economists & Max Weber. It was OK to write in Ukrainian 3/

My thesis in Ukrainian argued, based on theories of Western economists & Weber, that Soviet economic system was inefficient compared to free market economy & was bound to collapse. Because Gorbachev glasnost was making some headways in Ukraine, I wasn't expelled but given ”C.” 4/

I couldn't pursue graduate education then because it required recommendation from university from which I graduated. But without #Gorbachev glasnost, I would had been expelled from Kyiv university & it would had been much more difficult to pursue my dream of becoming scholar. 5/