LSE Libya Links
Encyclopedia
The affair of the LSE Libya Links refers to the various connections that existed between the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and the Libya
n government and its leader Muammar Gaddafi
and his son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi. The NGO Gaddafi Foundation pledged to donate £1.5 million over five years to a research centre, LSE Global Governance, of which £300k were paid. In addition, LSE Enterprise established a contract worth £2.2 million to train Libyan officials. In 2008, the LSE granted a PhD degree to Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the Libyan leader, for a dissertation. Currently, allegations circulate that Gaddafi's thesis was ghost-written and/or plagiarised. In December 2010, Muammar Gaddafi
addressed members of the School in a video link-up where he was addressed as "Brother Leader" and received an LSE cap previously given to Nelson Mandela
.
In connection with the civil uprising in Libya
in February and March, 2011, the links between LSE and the Gaddafi regime, and the conduct of individual members of LSE's staff, came increasingly to be questioned. As a result of the revelations, the LSE's Director, Sir Howard Davies, resigned on 3 March 2011, citing "errors of judgement." In a New York Times op-ed piece on 7 March 2011, Roger Cohen
wrote, in reference to events that had transpired at the School, "It may be possible to sink to greater depths but right now I can’t think how. ...The Arab Spring
is also a Western Winter."
In 2004 Libya's government engaged Monitor Group
, a Boston-based, Harvard-linked, consultancy firm founded by Harvard Business School professor Mark Fuller, as advisors on matters of public relations. According to leaked documents, Monitor Group
received £2 million "in order to enhance international understanding and appreciation of Libya and the contribution it has made and may continue to make to its region and to the world." In addition, "the goal is to introduce Muammar Gaddafi
as a thinker and intellectual, independent of his more widely known and very public persona as the Leader of the Revolution in Libya."
A number of Harvard University academics were active within Monitor.
One way to achieve this aim was to recruit prominent journalists and intellectuals who were prepared to travel to Libya and write in positive terms about the country. One prime target was academics associated with the LSE, such as professors Anthony Giddens
(Giddens is a Fellow of King's College Cambridge and is an Emeritus professor at LSE ) and David Held
. In 2006 and 2007 the company organized two trips to Libya for Giddens, when the former LSE Director met with Muammar Gaddafi
. Giddens has declined to comment on the financial compensation he received on these occasions.
Giddens' first visit to Libya resulted in articles in the New Statesman
, El País and La Repubblica
, where he argued that Libya had been transformed. In the New Statesman he wrote: "Gaddafi's 'conversion' may have been driven partly by the wish to escape sanctions, but I get the strong sense it is authentic and there is a lot of motive power behind it. Saif Gaddafi is a driving force behind the rehabilitation and potential modernisation of Libya. Gaddafi Sr, however, is authorising these processes." During the second visit, Monitor Group
organized a panel of "three thinkers" — Giddens, Gaddafi, and Benjamin Barber
, Emeritus professor of Rutgers University, author of the book Jihad vs. McWorld — chaired by the veteran journalist Sir David Frost
. Returning from Libya, Giddens wrote about his "chat with the colonel," in the Guardian, concluding that "If Gadafy is sincere about reform, as I think he is, Libya could end up as the Norway of North Africa."
, a distinguished philosopher of science, and Alex Voorhoeve, a political philosopher, advised on chapter 4 and the first half of chapter 5. In the text David Held
is acknowledged as having "directly advised" the work. One of the two examiners, Lord Meghnad Desai, the founder of LSE Global Governance, had retired from LSE in 2003 and in 2007 was requested by the University of London to examine the thesis of Saif Gaddafi. The external examiner, Anthony McGrew, has collaborated with David Held
on seven jointly written or co-edited books. There is some confusion regarding when the degree itself was awarded. The preface of the dissertation says it was submitted in September, 2007; an LSE press office statement says that the PhD was "awarded in 2008"; but David Held is on record as saying Saif Gaddafi "received his PhD from the LSE in 2009." What is clear, however, is that the examiners raised concerns at the time of the viva which required revisions to be made and the dissertation to be resubmitted.
In the acknowledgements, Gaddafi thanks "a number of individuals at Monitor Group
with whom I worked to design and conduct the NGO Survey which provides empirical data for this thesis." This team consisted of Libyan and foreign academics, led by Professor Omran Bukhres, and included Bruce J. Allyn and Flora Rose, a Cambridge graduate who works for the leader of the House of Lords
. When questioned, Monitor Group
admitted to having contributed to the dissertation and acknowledged that such assistance had been a mistake. Our aim, they said, had been to "help the Gaddafi regime bring about change." The exact extent of the help provided by the team from Monitor Group
is not established, and neither is it clear whether their contribution is in accordance with the rules of the University of London. In addition, it has been claimed that parts of the dissertation have been plagiarized.
"We read the thesis and examined Mr Gaddafi orally for two-and-a-half hours," Meghnad Desai commented, "at no stage did the supervisors or anyone else suggest to us that plagiarism was suspected and we found no reason to do so ourselves." "I can hardly be confident that nobody else helped him," said Nancy Cartwright
, "since there's evidence that he lifted bits, but I'm confident that it isn't in the sense done by anybody else start to finish." "We take these accusations seriously, of course," said Voorhoeve, "like any accusations of plagiarism." The claims of plagiarism are to be investigated by the LSE.
According to John Christensen who independently tutored Gaddafi in economics, "Saif lacked the intellectual depth to study at that level, and showed no willingness to read let alone do course work." "
at the time was a member of the board of trustees. This is, said an LSE press release, "a generous donation from an NGO committed to the promotion of civil society and the development of democracy."
The donation was used to create a "North Africa Programme" which would "place Libya within the wider context of the region," and over time narrow its focus to "the specific issues and challenges facing Libya." David Held
was made director of the programme, and Alia Brahimi, research fellow. George Joffe, a Senior Fellow of the Centre of International Studies at Cambridge University was hired by David Held as academic advisor to the North Africa Programme. Professor Joffe was Alia Brahimi's thesis examiner. According to a leaked internal memo, Gaddafi had a direct influence over the research activities of the North Africa Programme. In July 2010, Brahimi met with Gaddafi in Libya and in Greece to "talk over objectives and expectations" and to "agree upon topics for workshops." The memo says that: ""The Programme will work with and consult the Gaddafi Foundation on all aspects of the Programme".
In addition, the programme commissioned scholars to write papers on various topics relating to North Africa, in return for fees from £5,000 to £10,000.
Responding to calls that LSE return the donation, David Held
explained to the LSE Council that a “public signing ceremony had been undertaken and a U-turn at this juncture might affect the school’s relations with Libya and cause personal embarrassment to the chairman of the foundation”.
reported on 3 March 2011 that the LSE had secured a £2.2 million deal to train hundreds of members of Libya's elite. The School agreed to bring 400 "future leaders" from Libya for training in leadership and management, with an additional 250 people due to be trained in Libya itself. The private commercial arrangement was made by Gaddafi.
According to WikiLeaks
, American diplomats were told in September 2009 by Libya’s National Economic Development Board that they were “co-operating with the U.K. government and the London School of Economics, among other U.K. institutions, on an exchange program to send 400 people to London for leadership and management training." Professor Francis Terry
, Dept of Public Management, was academic director for the Libya programme and Julius Sen, LSE Enterprise, the co-director. Professor Terry described his involvement as "a very stimulating experience." According to press reports, references to the program on LSE's website have subsequently been removed.
, Emeritus Professor of International Relations at the LSE and the School's leading expert on the Middle East, wrote a memorandum to the LSE Council regarding the proposed cooperation with the Gaddafi Foundation. "I have repeatedly expressed reservations about formal educational and funding links with that country." Halliday said, and in several meetings with David Held
, "the leading proponent of our accepting this grant," he had expressed his misgivings, yet Held insisted on pushing the matter forward.
While Held and others who favour accepting the donation argue that "Libya is changing internally," most informed observers agree that while some of the worst excesses for the moment have ceased, the rights of its people are badly protected. Libya "remains a country run by a secretive, erratic and corrupt elite." Since 9/11 the Libyan government has reached compromises with the West on a number of issues, notably the Lockerbie bombing
and nuclear weapons. Yet tactical changes in foreign policy are not sufficient for the purposes of evaluating political and academic links. There are also ways in which Libyan foreign policy has not changed: the country continues to call for the destruction of Israel; Muammar Gaddafi recently called for the abolition of Switzerland, and he receives the leader of the Somali pirates
operating off the Horn of Africa as honoured guests of state. Moreover, Libya's handling of the Lockerbie
bombing "has not been characterised by either consistency or clarity,"
I have in the past, Halliday noted, defended accepting grants from authoritarian regimes such as the Gulf states, "but there should be clear limits on this, depending on the degree of political and human rights abuses perpetrated with them and on their ongoing foreign policy conduct." Whitehall and the City are now happy to do business with Libya, but it does not follow that the LSE should do the same. Responsible leaders throughout the Middle East continue to express reservations regarding Libya, including "its more prominent 'liberal' representatives." We must remember, Halliday concluded, that the "liberal" wing within a regime such as Libya does not have the function of producing change but its role is instead "to reach compromises with internal hard-liners that serve to lessen external pressure." A good case in point are the proposals LSE now is considering. It is, as LSE alumni in positions of responsibility in the region caution, "far too early for the School to take this step."
At the LSE council meeting in 2009 Peter Sutherland declared a conflict of interest when the council decided to accept £1.5 million from a charity headed by Muammar Gaddafi. Sutherland’s conflict was that BP had signed an oil deal with Libya two years previously, at a time when Sutherland was chairman of the British oil giant. LSE records show Sutherland took no further role in that part of the June 2009 meeting.
, a Marxist scholar and former LSE lecturer. Gaddafi spoke on the topic of "Libya: Past, Present, and Future." In introducing the speaker, professor David Held
told the audience that "I have come to know him very well and I must say I have come to like him a great deal." He continued:
On the evening of the lecture, a fight broke out between anti-Gaddafi protesters and pro-Gaddafi supporters. The police were eventually called in to break up the altercation. In a comment on 6 March 2011, David Miliband
, the son of Ralph Miliband and the former UK Foreign Secretary, was critical of LSE's decision to invite Saif al-Islam Gaddafi:
David Miliband continued his own association with LSE, giving a lecture at LSE on 8 March, two days after the above comments, where he made reference to the school's early history of economic liberalism combined with social justice.
An open letter by Professor John Keane asks Professor David Held to explain further his links with Libya and to reconsider his reactions. Professor Keane raises several questions, such as: Has the LSE Libya affair not done damage to the scholarly credibility of research programs in the area of democracy? Click here Keane's letter was heavily criticised by those who responded to it in the online magazine in which it was published (http://www.opendemocracy.net/john-keane/libya-intellectuals-and-democracy-open-letter-to-professor-david-held). Many argued that it was vindictive and overblown. An overview of Halliday and Held - who were both contributors to openDemocracy - with respect to the affair and the larger implications for the independence of UK universities was published by its former editor Fred Halliday, David Held, the LSE and the independence of universities.
In October 2011 Held resigned from his post at the LSE in advance of the publication an independent report into the LSE's links with Libya.
as "Brother Leader," and referred to him as "the world's longest serving national leader."
Gaddafi used the occasion to denounce the Lockerbie bombing as a "fabrication and creation" of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, and revealed that the Libyan national, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, who was convicted of the bombing and imprisoned in Scotland in 2001, but returned to Libya in 2009 on health grounds, was preparing a multi-million pound compensation claim against Britain for false imprisonment and medical neglect. At the end of the lecture, Brahimi gave Muammar Gaddafi a black baseball cap bearing the bright red LSE logo. "You're in good company," she assured him. "Mandela, Kofi Annan, and Bill Clinton also have them." Recounting these felicitations of Gaddafi by Dr. Brahimi, New York Times columnist Roger Cohen
wrote, "It may be possible to sink to greater depths but right now I can’t think how."
In an interview with Channel 4 News in 4 March 2011, Brahimi said that she now very much regretted becoming involved in the event:
On 28 February 2011, CBS News showed a clip of Gaddafi addressing a group of supporters in Tripoli. Holding a Heckler & Koch G36
assault rifle in the air, he told the crowd that "weapons are on the way." A day earlier, Gaddafi had told Christiane Amanpour
in an exclusive interview for ABCNews that the Libyan government "didn't use force to stay in power," and asked her to show him "a single attack, a single bomb, a single casualty". On 5 March 2011, he told CNN's Nic Robertson
in an interview that his family won't step down: "I am the government. If we would hold tomorrow election (sic!) my father would win with a big majority". Saif further told CNN that the world should not worry about the "200, 300 even 1000 militia...because now everybody is armed in Libya." In an interview with Benjamin Harvey from Bloomberg on 8 March, Gaddafi said that the crisis in Libya was "a passing cloud. This is an historic opportunity for Libya to become a first- class democratic state.”
The contrast between his appearance in Tripoli in 2011 and his appearance as a guest speaker at LSE, said the BBC, "could not have been more stark."
LSE Director Howard Davies resigned on 3 March over the revelations. In a comment Davies said he had left the job because of "two errors of judgment": 1) his advice that a donation from Gaddafi's foundation was acceptable, and 2) his decision to act as a financial adviser to the Libyan government. Davies acknowledged in his resignation letter that it would “be right for me to step down, even though I know that this will cause difficulty for the institution I have come to love.” He added, “The short point is that I am responsible for the school’s reputation, and that has suffered.”
In a statement the LSE's Board of Governors accepted Howard's resignation with "great regret."
Colin Talbot
, who holds a PhD degree from the LSE and is currently the Chair of Public Policy and Management at Manchester Business School, told UTv News on 4 March 2011 that Howard Davies should not be blamed for carrying out what amounted to "British diplomatic strategy". Talbot, who also taught on the LSE's Libya program further said that Davies was not the only person responsible for tarnishing the university's reputation, because the British government had encouraged Davies to establish close ties to the Gaddafi family.
The LSE said in a statement on 21 February 2011, that its engagement with the Libyan authorities has already finished or has been stopped following recent events in the country. The School said no more of the £1.5m donation would be accepted. About half of the £300,000 already accepted had been spent and the LSE Council would next consider what to do with the remaining funds, taking into account the views of LSE students.
On 17 March 2011, Professor Judith Rees
was appointed interim- director. Reese was pro director of the School from 1998 to 2004, and is currently director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at LSE.
In an on-line petition, present and former LSE students urged the School to revoke Gaddafi's status as alumnus and to cease all cooperation with the Libyan regime. "We were shocked to find out that the LSE has accepted a £1.5 million donation from the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation; an NGO headed by Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi.... We are astonished that the donation was accepted in the first place."
Professor David Held
issued a statement saying that "in many discussions and meetings I encouraged the development of Gaddafi's reform agenda and subsequently sought to support it through research on the North Africa Programme funded by the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation."
Saif Gaddafi, said Alex Voorhoeve, "seemed genuinely moved by the desire to study democratic ideals and practice and my colleagues had therefore hoped he would have a liberalizing influence on the Libyan regime. ... I had hoped that at such a crucial moment, he would defend the democratic ideals that he wrote about in his thesis.
These reactions were echoed by Alia Brahimi, who claimed to be "tremendously surprised" by Saif Gaddafi's "Rivers of Blood Speech." Saif Gaddafi, she said, had been a reformer for many years but now "seemed to be backpeddling". "I’ve got nothing to apologise for. Saif told me he was keen that democratic reform should happen soon in Libya."
Henning Mayer, a former employee of David Held, defended the decision to accept Gaddafi's money saying it was made based on information available at the time.
In a statement Fred Halliday
's wife said she recalled that her late husband had been opposed to accepting Gaddafi as a student.
The Financial Times reported on 3 March 2011, that the LSE had started to edit official university websites in an attempt to "remove references to Libyan links from its academics’ workplace biographies".
. Lord Woolf is to conduct
In an email sent to LSE alumni on 24 November 2011, it was stated that the Woolf report would be published "in the afternoon of" 30 November 2011.
, Professor of International Political Economy at Johns Hopkins University, Richard Perle
,
a prominent neoconservative who advised the Bush presidency on the Middle East, as well as Robert Putnam
from Harvard University traveled to Tripoli to meet Gaddafi. All the meetings had been organized by the Monitor group.
In the context of the scandal over LSE's Libya connections, it emerged that also Michigan State University had established a program to train future Libyan leaders. Moussa Koussa, Libya's foreign minister and the second most powerful man in Libya after the Gaddafi family received a Master's Degree in Sociology from Michigan State in 1978.
On 6 March 2011 the UK Daily Mail reported that the University of Huddersfield was in the process of training 100 Libyan police officers, on master's courses. The University did not deny the allegation and the news received very little attention compared to the anger directed at LSE. Later reports that more than a hundred British universities were involved with Libya also failed to excite much media attention.
In April 2011 it was revealed that the University of St. Andrews had received funding from Syria
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
n government and its leader Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...
and his son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi. The NGO Gaddafi Foundation pledged to donate £1.5 million over five years to a research centre, LSE Global Governance, of which £300k were paid. In addition, LSE Enterprise established a contract worth £2.2 million to train Libyan officials. In 2008, the LSE granted a PhD degree to Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the Libyan leader, for a dissertation. Currently, allegations circulate that Gaddafi's thesis was ghost-written and/or plagiarised. In December 2010, Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...
addressed members of the School in a video link-up where he was addressed as "Brother Leader" and received an LSE cap previously given to Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
.
In connection with the civil uprising in Libya
2011 Libyan civil war
The 2011 Libyan civil war was an armed conflict in the North African state of Libya, fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and those seeking to oust his government. The war was preceded by protests in Benghazi beginning on 15 February 2011, which led to clashes with security...
in February and March, 2011, the links between LSE and the Gaddafi regime, and the conduct of individual members of LSE's staff, came increasingly to be questioned. As a result of the revelations, the LSE's Director, Sir Howard Davies, resigned on 3 March 2011, citing "errors of judgement." In a New York Times op-ed piece on 7 March 2011, Roger Cohen
Roger Cohen
Roger Cohen is a British-born journalist and author. He is a columnist for The New York Times and International Herald Tribune. He has worked as a foreign correspondent in fifteen different countries.- Biography :...
wrote, in reference to events that had transpired at the School, "It may be possible to sink to greater depths but right now I can’t think how. ...The Arab Spring
Arab Spring
The Arab Spring , otherwise known as the Arab Awakening, is a revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests occurring in the Arab world that began on Saturday, 18 December 2010...
is also a Western Winter."
LSE and the Monitor Group
Monitor Group
Monitor Group is a global management consulting firm headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States and with 27 offices in 26 major cities around the world. It provides strategy consultation services to the senior management of organizations and governments...
, a Boston-based, Harvard-linked, consultancy firm founded by Harvard Business School professor Mark Fuller, as advisors on matters of public relations. According to leaked documents, Monitor Group
Monitor Group
Monitor Group is a global management consulting firm headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States and with 27 offices in 26 major cities around the world. It provides strategy consultation services to the senior management of organizations and governments...
received £2 million "in order to enhance international understanding and appreciation of Libya and the contribution it has made and may continue to make to its region and to the world." In addition, "the goal is to introduce Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...
as a thinker and intellectual, independent of his more widely known and very public persona as the Leader of the Revolution in Libya."
A number of Harvard University academics were active within Monitor.
One way to achieve this aim was to recruit prominent journalists and intellectuals who were prepared to travel to Libya and write in positive terms about the country. One prime target was academics associated with the LSE, such as professors Anthony Giddens
Anthony Giddens
Anthony Giddens, Baron Giddens is a British sociologist who is known for his theory of structuration and his holistic view of modern societies. He is considered to be one of the most prominent modern contributors in the field of sociology, the author of at least 34 books, published in at least 29...
(Giddens is a Fellow of King's College Cambridge and is an Emeritus professor at LSE ) and David Held
David Held
David Held is a British political theorist active in the field of international relations. He will be chair of politics and international relations at Durham University from January 2012 and is currently Graham Wallas Professor of Political Science and co-director of the Centre for the Study of...
. In 2006 and 2007 the company organized two trips to Libya for Giddens, when the former LSE Director met with Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...
. Giddens has declined to comment on the financial compensation he received on these occasions.
Giddens' first visit to Libya resulted in articles in the New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
, El País and La Repubblica
La Repubblica
la Repubblica is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper. Founded in 1976 in Rome by the journalist Eugenio Scalfari, as of 2008 is the second largest circulation newspaper, behind the Corriere della Sera.-Foundation:...
, where he argued that Libya had been transformed. In the New Statesman he wrote: "Gaddafi's 'conversion' may have been driven partly by the wish to escape sanctions, but I get the strong sense it is authentic and there is a lot of motive power behind it. Saif Gaddafi is a driving force behind the rehabilitation and potential modernisation of Libya. Gaddafi Sr, however, is authorising these processes." During the second visit, Monitor Group
Monitor Group
Monitor Group is a global management consulting firm headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States and with 27 offices in 26 major cities around the world. It provides strategy consultation services to the senior management of organizations and governments...
organized a panel of "three thinkers" — Giddens, Gaddafi, and Benjamin Barber
Benjamin Barber
Benjamin R. Barber is an American political theorist and author perhaps best known for his 1996 bestseller, Jihad vs. McWorld.-Career:...
, Emeritus professor of Rutgers University, author of the book Jihad vs. McWorld — chaired by the veteran journalist Sir David Frost
David Frost
Sir David Frost is a British broadcaster.David Frost may also refer to:*David Frost , South African golfer*David Frost , classical record producer*David Frost *Dave Frost, baseball pitcher...
. Returning from Libya, Giddens wrote about his "chat with the colonel," in the Guardian, concluding that "If Gadafy is sincere about reform, as I think he is, Libya could end up as the Norway of North Africa."
LSE grants PhD degree to Saif Gaddafi
In 2008, Muammar Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, received a PhD from the Department of Philosophy at the LSE with a dissertation entitled "The Role of Civil Society in the Democratization of Global Governance Institutions: From 'Soft Power' to Collective Decision-Making?" His supervisor was Nancy CartwrightNancy Cartwright (philosopher)
Nancy Cartwright FBA is a professor of philosophy at the London School of Economics and the University of California at San Diego, and a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship...
, a distinguished philosopher of science, and Alex Voorhoeve, a political philosopher, advised on chapter 4 and the first half of chapter 5. In the text David Held
David Held
David Held is a British political theorist active in the field of international relations. He will be chair of politics and international relations at Durham University from January 2012 and is currently Graham Wallas Professor of Political Science and co-director of the Centre for the Study of...
is acknowledged as having "directly advised" the work. One of the two examiners, Lord Meghnad Desai, the founder of LSE Global Governance, had retired from LSE in 2003 and in 2007 was requested by the University of London to examine the thesis of Saif Gaddafi. The external examiner, Anthony McGrew, has collaborated with David Held
David Held
David Held is a British political theorist active in the field of international relations. He will be chair of politics and international relations at Durham University from January 2012 and is currently Graham Wallas Professor of Political Science and co-director of the Centre for the Study of...
on seven jointly written or co-edited books. There is some confusion regarding when the degree itself was awarded. The preface of the dissertation says it was submitted in September, 2007; an LSE press office statement says that the PhD was "awarded in 2008"; but David Held is on record as saying Saif Gaddafi "received his PhD from the LSE in 2009." What is clear, however, is that the examiners raised concerns at the time of the viva which required revisions to be made and the dissertation to be resubmitted.
In the acknowledgements, Gaddafi thanks "a number of individuals at Monitor Group
Monitor Group
Monitor Group is a global management consulting firm headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States and with 27 offices in 26 major cities around the world. It provides strategy consultation services to the senior management of organizations and governments...
with whom I worked to design and conduct the NGO Survey which provides empirical data for this thesis." This team consisted of Libyan and foreign academics, led by Professor Omran Bukhres, and included Bruce J. Allyn and Flora Rose, a Cambridge graduate who works for the leader of the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
. When questioned, Monitor Group
Monitor Group
Monitor Group is a global management consulting firm headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States and with 27 offices in 26 major cities around the world. It provides strategy consultation services to the senior management of organizations and governments...
admitted to having contributed to the dissertation and acknowledged that such assistance had been a mistake. Our aim, they said, had been to "help the Gaddafi regime bring about change." The exact extent of the help provided by the team from Monitor Group
Monitor Group
Monitor Group is a global management consulting firm headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States and with 27 offices in 26 major cities around the world. It provides strategy consultation services to the senior management of organizations and governments...
is not established, and neither is it clear whether their contribution is in accordance with the rules of the University of London. In addition, it has been claimed that parts of the dissertation have been plagiarized.
"We read the thesis and examined Mr Gaddafi orally for two-and-a-half hours," Meghnad Desai commented, "at no stage did the supervisors or anyone else suggest to us that plagiarism was suspected and we found no reason to do so ourselves." "I can hardly be confident that nobody else helped him," said Nancy Cartwright
Nancy Cartwright (philosopher)
Nancy Cartwright FBA is a professor of philosophy at the London School of Economics and the University of California at San Diego, and a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship...
, "since there's evidence that he lifted bits, but I'm confident that it isn't in the sense done by anybody else start to finish." "We take these accusations seriously, of course," said Voorhoeve, "like any accusations of plagiarism." The claims of plagiarism are to be investigated by the LSE.
According to John Christensen who independently tutored Gaddafi in economics, "Saif lacked the intellectual depth to study at that level, and showed no willingness to read let alone do course work." "
Gaddafi donates money to LSE's North Africa Programme
Even before Gaddafi had been examined for his PhD, according to a senior LSE source, the Pro-Directors of the School were "anticipating the solicitation of a donation." However no factual evidence jas been produced to support this allegation. The money eventually arrived in June 2009 when the LSE Council accepted a £1.5 million donation from the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation, of which Saif al-Islam Gaddafi is the chairman and professor David HeldDavid Held
David Held is a British political theorist active in the field of international relations. He will be chair of politics and international relations at Durham University from January 2012 and is currently Graham Wallas Professor of Political Science and co-director of the Centre for the Study of...
at the time was a member of the board of trustees. This is, said an LSE press release, "a generous donation from an NGO committed to the promotion of civil society and the development of democracy."
The donation was used to create a "North Africa Programme" which would "place Libya within the wider context of the region," and over time narrow its focus to "the specific issues and challenges facing Libya." David Held
David Held
David Held is a British political theorist active in the field of international relations. He will be chair of politics and international relations at Durham University from January 2012 and is currently Graham Wallas Professor of Political Science and co-director of the Centre for the Study of...
was made director of the programme, and Alia Brahimi, research fellow. George Joffe, a Senior Fellow of the Centre of International Studies at Cambridge University was hired by David Held as academic advisor to the North Africa Programme. Professor Joffe was Alia Brahimi's thesis examiner. According to a leaked internal memo, Gaddafi had a direct influence over the research activities of the North Africa Programme. In July 2010, Brahimi met with Gaddafi in Libya and in Greece to "talk over objectives and expectations" and to "agree upon topics for workshops." The memo says that: ""The Programme will work with and consult the Gaddafi Foundation on all aspects of the Programme".
In addition, the programme commissioned scholars to write papers on various topics relating to North Africa, in return for fees from £5,000 to £10,000.
Responding to calls that LSE return the donation, David Held
David Held
David Held is a British political theorist active in the field of international relations. He will be chair of politics and international relations at Durham University from January 2012 and is currently Graham Wallas Professor of Political Science and co-director of the Centre for the Study of...
explained to the LSE Council that a “public signing ceremony had been undertaken and a U-turn at this juncture might affect the school’s relations with Libya and cause personal embarrassment to the chairman of the foundation”.
LSE planned to train "Libya's future elite"
The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
reported on 3 March 2011 that the LSE had secured a £2.2 million deal to train hundreds of members of Libya's elite. The School agreed to bring 400 "future leaders" from Libya for training in leadership and management, with an additional 250 people due to be trained in Libya itself. The private commercial arrangement was made by Gaddafi.
According to WikiLeaks
Wikileaks
WikiLeaks is an international self-described not-for-profit organisation that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers. Its website, launched in 2006 under The Sunshine Press organisation, claimed a database of more...
, American diplomats were told in September 2009 by Libya’s National Economic Development Board that they were “co-operating with the U.K. government and the London School of Economics, among other U.K. institutions, on an exchange program to send 400 people to London for leadership and management training." Professor Francis Terry
Francis Terry
Francis William Terry played first-class cricket for Somerset from 1882 to 1885. He also played for and captained the Canadian national cricket team in international matches of non-first-class status against the United States. He was born at Wells, Somerset and died at Mimico, Ontario,...
, Dept of Public Management, was academic director for the Libya programme and Julius Sen, LSE Enterprise, the co-director. Professor Terry described his involvement as "a very stimulating experience." According to press reports, references to the program on LSE's website have subsequently been removed.
Fred Halliday: "A Dissenting Note"
On 4 October 2009, Fred HallidayFred Halliday
Frederick Halliday, FBA was an Irish writer and academic specialising in International Relations and the Middle East, with particular reference to the Cold War, Iran, and the Arabian peninsula.-Biography:Born in Dublin, Ireland in 1946 to an English father, businessman Arthur Halliday, and an...
, Emeritus Professor of International Relations at the LSE and the School's leading expert on the Middle East, wrote a memorandum to the LSE Council regarding the proposed cooperation with the Gaddafi Foundation. "I have repeatedly expressed reservations about formal educational and funding links with that country." Halliday said, and in several meetings with David Held
David Held
David Held is a British political theorist active in the field of international relations. He will be chair of politics and international relations at Durham University from January 2012 and is currently Graham Wallas Professor of Political Science and co-director of the Centre for the Study of...
, "the leading proponent of our accepting this grant," he had expressed his misgivings, yet Held insisted on pushing the matter forward.
While Held and others who favour accepting the donation argue that "Libya is changing internally," most informed observers agree that while some of the worst excesses for the moment have ceased, the rights of its people are badly protected. Libya "remains a country run by a secretive, erratic and corrupt elite." Since 9/11 the Libyan government has reached compromises with the West on a number of issues, notably the Lockerbie bombing
Pan Am Flight 103
Pan Am Flight 103 was Pan American World Airways' third daily scheduled transatlantic flight from London Heathrow Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport...
and nuclear weapons. Yet tactical changes in foreign policy are not sufficient for the purposes of evaluating political and academic links. There are also ways in which Libyan foreign policy has not changed: the country continues to call for the destruction of Israel; Muammar Gaddafi recently called for the abolition of Switzerland, and he receives the leader of the Somali pirates
Piracy in Somalia
Piracy off the coast of Somalia has been a threat to international shipping since the second phase of the Somali Civil War in the early 21st century...
operating off the Horn of Africa as honoured guests of state. Moreover, Libya's handling of the Lockerbie
Pan Am Flight 103
Pan Am Flight 103 was Pan American World Airways' third daily scheduled transatlantic flight from London Heathrow Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport...
bombing "has not been characterised by either consistency or clarity,"
I have in the past, Halliday noted, defended accepting grants from authoritarian regimes such as the Gulf states, "but there should be clear limits on this, depending on the degree of political and human rights abuses perpetrated with them and on their ongoing foreign policy conduct." Whitehall and the City are now happy to do business with Libya, but it does not follow that the LSE should do the same. Responsible leaders throughout the Middle East continue to express reservations regarding Libya, including "its more prominent 'liberal' representatives." We must remember, Halliday concluded, that the "liberal" wing within a regime such as Libya does not have the function of producing change but its role is instead "to reach compromises with internal hard-liners that serve to lessen external pressure." A good case in point are the proposals LSE now is considering. It is, as LSE alumni in positions of responsibility in the region caution, "far too early for the School to take this step."
LSE, Libya and BP
Peter Denis Sutherland, formerly Attorney General of Ireland, European Commissioner, and Head of the World Trade Organisation,finished a 13-year stint as chairman of BP, Europe’s largest oil company in early 2010. In Spring 2006 he was appointed Chair of London School of Economics Governors commencing in 2008.At the LSE council meeting in 2009 Peter Sutherland declared a conflict of interest when the council decided to accept £1.5 million from a charity headed by Muammar Gaddafi. Sutherland’s conflict was that BP had signed an oil deal with Libya two years previously, at a time when Sutherland was chairman of the British oil giant. LSE records show Sutherland took no further role in that part of the June 2009 meeting.
David Held and Saif Gaddafi's Ralph Miliband Lecture
On 25 May 2010, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi gave a "Ralph Miliband lecture" at the LSE, named after Ralph MilibandRalph Miliband
Ralph Miliband , born Adolphe Miliband, was a Belgian-born British sociologist known as a prominent Marxist thinker...
, a Marxist scholar and former LSE lecturer. Gaddafi spoke on the topic of "Libya: Past, Present, and Future." In introducing the speaker, professor David Held
David Held
David Held is a British political theorist active in the field of international relations. He will be chair of politics and international relations at Durham University from January 2012 and is currently Graham Wallas Professor of Political Science and co-director of the Centre for the Study of...
told the audience that "I have come to know him very well and I must say I have come to like him a great deal." He continued:
Saif is committed to resolving contentious international and domestic issues through dialogue, debate and peaceful negotiations. ... Within his own country Saif has spearheaded efforts to open with Islamic militants about the nature and form of their struggle in order to find ways of bringing them back into the political process. ... His success was based on the use of the language of "soft power," that is, the language of dialogue. ... Throughout this time I've come to know Saif as someone who looks to democracy, civil society and deep liberal values for the core of his inspiration.
On the evening of the lecture, a fight broke out between anti-Gaddafi protesters and pro-Gaddafi supporters. The police were eventually called in to break up the altercation. In a comment on 6 March 2011, David Miliband
David Miliband
David Wright Miliband is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for South Shields since 2001, and was the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from 2007 to 2010. He is the elder son of the late Marxist theorist Ralph Miliband...
, the son of Ralph Miliband and the former UK Foreign Secretary, was critical of LSE's decision to invite Saif al-Islam Gaddafi:
The Ralph Miliband Programme at the LSE was founded by a former student of my dad's ... The idea of Saif Gaddafi giving a lecture under his name is just horrific to him and horrific to the whole family obviously,
David Miliband continued his own association with LSE, giving a lecture at LSE on 8 March, two days after the above comments, where he made reference to the school's early history of economic liberalism combined with social justice.
An open letter by Professor John Keane asks Professor David Held to explain further his links with Libya and to reconsider his reactions. Professor Keane raises several questions, such as: Has the LSE Libya affair not done damage to the scholarly credibility of research programs in the area of democracy? Click here Keane's letter was heavily criticised by those who responded to it in the online magazine in which it was published (http://www.opendemocracy.net/john-keane/libya-intellectuals-and-democracy-open-letter-to-professor-david-held). Many argued that it was vindictive and overblown. An overview of Halliday and Held - who were both contributors to openDemocracy - with respect to the affair and the larger implications for the independence of UK universities was published by its former editor Fred Halliday, David Held, the LSE and the independence of universities.
In October 2011 Held resigned from his post at the LSE in advance of the publication an independent report into the LSE's links with Libya.
Alia Brahimi and LSE's video link-up with Gaddafi
On 2 December 2010, in a video-link conference hosted by the LSE, Alia Brahimi, of LSE Global Governance, introduced Muammar GaddafiMuammar Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...
as "Brother Leader," and referred to him as "the world's longest serving national leader."
I will be chairing this on behalf of Howard Davis, the LSE's Director who unfortunately couldn't make it this evening, but who sends the following message, “You are most welcome here Colonel Gaddafi. We wish you had been able to deliver some Libyan weather at the same time”[Aside from Brahimi]- -this is the message from Howard Davis -- “We are pleased to be asked to train Libya officials, and we hope the relationship will continue.”
Gaddafi used the occasion to denounce the Lockerbie bombing as a "fabrication and creation" of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, and revealed that the Libyan national, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, who was convicted of the bombing and imprisoned in Scotland in 2001, but returned to Libya in 2009 on health grounds, was preparing a multi-million pound compensation claim against Britain for false imprisonment and medical neglect. At the end of the lecture, Brahimi gave Muammar Gaddafi a black baseball cap bearing the bright red LSE logo. "You're in good company," she assured him. "Mandela, Kofi Annan, and Bill Clinton also have them." Recounting these felicitations of Gaddafi by Dr. Brahimi, New York Times columnist Roger Cohen
Roger Cohen
Roger Cohen is a British-born journalist and author. He is a columnist for The New York Times and International Herald Tribune. He has worked as a foreign correspondent in fifteen different countries.- Biography :...
wrote, "It may be possible to sink to greater depths but right now I can’t think how."
In an interview with Channel 4 News in 4 March 2011, Brahimi said that she now very much regretted becoming involved in the event:
As the only scholar working on Libya at the LSE I was asked to step in at very short notice. ... My words were largely scripted and I was told immediately before the event ... that the speaker would only answer to 'Brother Leader.' I am devastated by the impact of my decision.
Saif Gaddafi's "Rivers of Blood" speech
On 20 February 2011, Saif al-islam Gaddafi delivered an address to the nation on Libyan state television stating that if no agreement could be found between protesters and the government "thousands of deaths, and rivers of blood will run through Libya". He also insisted that his father remained in charge with the army's backing and would "fight until the last man, the last woman, the last bullet."On 28 February 2011, CBS News showed a clip of Gaddafi addressing a group of supporters in Tripoli. Holding a Heckler & Koch G36
Heckler & Koch G36
The Heckler & Koch G36 is a 5.56×45mm assault rifle, designed in the early 1990s by Heckler & Koch in Germany as a replacement for the 7.62mm G3 battle rifle. It was accepted into service with the Bundeswehr in 1997, replacing the G3...
assault rifle in the air, he told the crowd that "weapons are on the way." A day earlier, Gaddafi had told Christiane Amanpour
Christiane Amanpour
Christiane Amanpour, CBE is anchor of ABC News's This Week and formerly chief international correspondent at CNN, where she worked for 27 years. She is a Board Member at the IWMF .-Early years:...
in an exclusive interview for ABCNews that the Libyan government "didn't use force to stay in power," and asked her to show him "a single attack, a single bomb, a single casualty". On 5 March 2011, he told CNN's Nic Robertson
Nic Robertson
Nic Robertson is a Senior International Correspondent at CNN.Nic started his career in broadcasting in 1984 within the engineering arm of the UK's Independent Broadcasting Authority He then worked as an engineer with TV-AM until 1989.Nic began his career at CNN in 1989, starting as a satellite...
in an interview that his family won't step down: "I am the government. If we would hold tomorrow election (sic!) my father would win with a big majority". Saif further told CNN that the world should not worry about the "200, 300 even 1000 militia...because now everybody is armed in Libya." In an interview with Benjamin Harvey from Bloomberg on 8 March, Gaddafi said that the crisis in Libya was "a passing cloud. This is an historic opportunity for Libya to become a first- class democratic state.”
The contrast between his appearance in Tripoli in 2011 and his appearance as a guest speaker at LSE, said the BBC, "could not have been more stark."
Director Howard Davies resigns
In a statement the LSE's Board of Governors accepted Howard's resignation with "great regret."
Colin Talbot
Colin Talbot
Colin Talbot is a British political scientist. He is currently a professor at the University of Manchester and holds the Chair of Public Policy and Management at Manchester Business School...
, who holds a PhD degree from the LSE and is currently the Chair of Public Policy and Management at Manchester Business School, told UTv News on 4 March 2011 that Howard Davies should not be blamed for carrying out what amounted to "British diplomatic strategy". Talbot, who also taught on the LSE's Libya program further said that Davies was not the only person responsible for tarnishing the university's reputation, because the British government had encouraged Davies to establish close ties to the Gaddafi family.
The LSE said in a statement on 21 February 2011, that its engagement with the Libyan authorities has already finished or has been stopped following recent events in the country. The School said no more of the £1.5m donation would be accepted. About half of the £300,000 already accepted had been spent and the LSE Council would next consider what to do with the remaining funds, taking into account the views of LSE students.
On 17 March 2011, Professor Judith Rees
Judith Rees
Professor Judith Rees CBE has been Interim Director of London School of Economics and Political Science since 2 May 2011, following the resignation of Sir Howard Davies from the position on 3 March 2011 following concern over the institution's decision to accept funding from a foundation...
was appointed interim- director. Reese was pro director of the School from 1998 to 2004, and is currently director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at LSE.
Students
Several protest actions were undertaken by LSE students in response to the revelations of the School's links to the Libyan regime, including sit-ins and demonstrations. The students have insisted that LSE repay the donation from Gaddafi's foundation and revoke Gaddafi's status as LSE alumnus. According to Ashok Kumar, an officer the LSE students' union, "It's reprehensible that the university continues to benefit from money that was stolen from the Libyan people and it's only right to return it to the people who are now being murdered in the streets fighting for their freedom." That donation had originally been welcomed by the then-General Secretary of LSE Students Union, Aled Fisher, in June 2009, as "exactly the kind of donation" the School should be encouraging."In an on-line petition, present and former LSE students urged the School to revoke Gaddafi's status as alumnus and to cease all cooperation with the Libyan regime. "We were shocked to find out that the LSE has accepted a £1.5 million donation from the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation; an NGO headed by Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi.... We are astonished that the donation was accepted in the first place."
Faculty
Professor Meghnad Desai, defended LSE's actions, arguing that "Academic research needs money — Rockefeller was a robber baron once, but we take his money". "It was only after bullets started flying in Libya that Saif Gaddafi was found to have cheated. Nor had anyone until then objected that the LSE had received a donation from Saif Gaddafi's Foundation."Professor David Held
David Held
David Held is a British political theorist active in the field of international relations. He will be chair of politics and international relations at Durham University from January 2012 and is currently Graham Wallas Professor of Political Science and co-director of the Centre for the Study of...
issued a statement saying that "in many discussions and meetings I encouraged the development of Gaddafi's reform agenda and subsequently sought to support it through research on the North Africa Programme funded by the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation."
Saif Gaddafi, said Alex Voorhoeve, "seemed genuinely moved by the desire to study democratic ideals and practice and my colleagues had therefore hoped he would have a liberalizing influence on the Libyan regime. ... I had hoped that at such a crucial moment, he would defend the democratic ideals that he wrote about in his thesis.
These reactions were echoed by Alia Brahimi, who claimed to be "tremendously surprised" by Saif Gaddafi's "Rivers of Blood Speech." Saif Gaddafi, she said, had been a reformer for many years but now "seemed to be backpeddling". "I’ve got nothing to apologise for. Saif told me he was keen that democratic reform should happen soon in Libya."
Henning Mayer, a former employee of David Held, defended the decision to accept Gaddafi's money saying it was made based on information available at the time.
In a statement Fred Halliday
Fred Halliday
Frederick Halliday, FBA was an Irish writer and academic specialising in International Relations and the Middle East, with particular reference to the Cold War, Iran, and the Arabian peninsula.-Biography:Born in Dublin, Ireland in 1946 to an English father, businessman Arthur Halliday, and an...
's wife said she recalled that her late husband had been opposed to accepting Gaddafi as a student.
The Financial Times reported on 3 March 2011, that the LSE had started to edit official university websites in an attempt to "remove references to Libyan links from its academics’ workplace biographies".
Gaddafi's replies to LSE reactions
In response to the reactions of LSE members of staff, Gaddafi was quoted in the Daily Mail as saying "Just a few months ago we were being treated as honoured friends. Now that rebels are threatening our country, these cowards are turning on us. The way my former friends at the LSE have turned against me and my father is particularly upsetting."Lord Woolf Inquiry
On 3 March 2011, LSE announced that they had set up an independent external inquiry into the School's relationship with the Libyan regime, to be conducted by the former lord chief justice Harry WoolfHarry Woolf, Baron Woolf
Harry Kenneth Woolf, Baron Woolf, PC, FBA, , born 2 May 1933, was Master of the Rolls from 1996 until 2000 and Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales from 2000 until 2005. The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 made him the first Lord Chief Justice to be President of the Courts of England and Wales...
. Lord Woolf is to conduct
An independent inquiry to establish the full facts of the School’s links with Libya, whether there have been errors made, and to establish clear guidelines for international donations to and links with the School. Lord Woolf is to make recommendations to the LSE Council as soon as possible. He is to have total discretion as to how he conducts the inquiry, and as to the matters on which he is to report.
In an email sent to LSE alumni on 24 November 2011, it was stated that the Woolf report would be published "in the afternoon of" 30 November 2011.
Other universities with Libyan links
On 19 May 2009, the French-language journal Jeune Afrique published an investigative report on the Gaddafi family's public relations campaign set up by Monitor. Titled 'Gaddafi: Mirror, Mirror, Tell Me Who is the Most Handsome' the article detailed how the Monitor group had been organizing visits to Libya by leading academics from US-and UK-based universities in order to meet Gaddafi the 'thinker and intellectual'. In addition to Michael Porter from the Harvard Business School, Francis FukuyamaFrancis Fukuyama
Yoshihiro Francis Fukuyama is an American political scientist, political economist, and author. He is a Senior Fellow at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford. Before that he served as a professor and director of the International Development program at the School of...
, Professor of International Political Economy at Johns Hopkins University, Richard Perle
Richard Perle
Richard Norman Perle is an American political advisor, consultant, and lobbyist who began his career in government, a senior staff member to Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson on the Senate Armed Services Committee in the 1970’s...
,
a prominent neoconservative who advised the Bush presidency on the Middle East, as well as Robert Putnam
Robert Putnam
Robert David Putnam is a political scientist and professor of public policy at the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government. He is also visiting professor and director of the Manchester Graduate Summer Programme in Social Change, University of Manchester...
from Harvard University traveled to Tripoli to meet Gaddafi. All the meetings had been organized by the Monitor group.
In the context of the scandal over LSE's Libya connections, it emerged that also Michigan State University had established a program to train future Libyan leaders. Moussa Koussa, Libya's foreign minister and the second most powerful man in Libya after the Gaddafi family received a Master's Degree in Sociology from Michigan State in 1978.
On 6 March 2011 the UK Daily Mail reported that the University of Huddersfield was in the process of training 100 Libyan police officers, on master's courses. The University did not deny the allegation and the news received very little attention compared to the anger directed at LSE. Later reports that more than a hundred British universities were involved with Libya also failed to excite much media attention.
In April 2011 it was revealed that the University of St. Andrews had received funding from Syria
External links
- London School of Economics and Political Science, official web site.
- Monitor Group, official web site.
- Gaddafi International Foundation For Charity and Development, official web site.
- Fred Halliday, "LSE: and the Qaddafi Foundation: A Dissenting Note", October 4, 2009.
- Saif Al-Islam Alqadhafi, "The Role of Civil Society in the Democratization of Global Governance Institutions: From 'Soft Power' to Collective Decision-Making?" PhD Thesis, London School of Economics, 2008.
- "For the LSE to Revoke the Alumni Status of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and to Cease All Cooperation with the Libyan Regime,".
- Human Rights Watch, "World Report, 2011, New York, 2011, pp. 562–567.
- Lord Woolf's Inquiry into the LSE and Libya, March, 2011. Make a submission.
- LSE Libya Links: A Short Bibliography