Qaddafi and the West: the case of the LSE

The West has much to pay for in its ongoing relations with the butcher of Tripoli.

One example among many is the relationship between the London School of Economics and Qaddafi [ht: ke].

First, Qaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam studied at the LSE, from 2003 to 2008, gaining both a Master of Science degree and a doctorate based on a plagiarized an allegedly plagiarized doctoral thesis. In 2009, he pledged a £1.5m donation to the LSE from the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation.

Second, a veritable rogues’ gallery of LSE scholars (together with politicians and spys) facilitated Qaddafi family connections to the LSE.

Just the other week, Professor Held and LSE colleagues Dr Alia Brahimi and Dr Kristian Coates Ulrichsen jointly published an article about the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia, which completely failed to see an uprising occurring in Libya.

They talked of ‘the failures of corrupt and repressive autocratic regimes’, but found that Libya was less likely to undergo any revolution. ‘In Libya,’ they wrote, ‘more pronounced tribalism has drawn larger circles of people into the regime’s orbit and given them a stake in society.’

Dr Brahimi, 30, who is of Algerian-American background and was educated at Stowe and Oxford, met Saif on a number of occasions and believed she had got to know and understand him.

Perhaps not surprisingly, it was the glamorous Dr Brahimi whom the university authorities chose to fly to Crete for a meeting with Saif in order to obtain his ‘objectives and expectations’ on how his £1.5million donation should be spent. They also met in London, most recently just before Christmas.

‘I’ve got nothing to apologise for,’ she said last night. ‘Saif told me he was keen that democratic reform should happen soon in Libya.

‘He was saying: “Let’s have civil society workshops all through Ramadan.” He couldn’t have been more in favour of liberal reforms.’

She admits now that she and her colleagues were ‘fooled’.

We should remember the many ways the “liberal West” has supported Qaddafi and his family, of which the case of the LSE is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, when those same liberals hesitate to support the people struggling to overthrow Qaddafi.

Update

LSE director Howard Davies has just announced his resignation, after fresh revelations concerning the school’s complicity with Qaddafi.

Further update

Professor Edward F. McLennen disputes the allegation that Saif al-Islam plagiarized his doctoral thesis.