Friday 4 March 2011

How many at UN-DESA came from LSE - London School of Economics?

City Spy: More red faces at LSE over Gaddafi

Saif Gaddafi

One of the more troubling aspects of the row surrounding the London School of Economics' one-time student Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the Libyan leader, is the role in the preparation of his thesis of Monitor Group, the management consultancy.

His 2007 doctorate-earning screed was entitled "The Role of Civil Society in the Democratisation of Global Governance Institutions: From 'Soft Power' to Collective Decision-Making".

To that end, he hired Boston-based Monitor to survey 40 heads of NGOs and inter-governmental institutions on his behalf. Eh? City Spy wonders how many other students retain the services of smart management consultancies to do their work for them.

Should not the LSE have thought the practice was, well, a little odd? Perish the thought that Monitor was helping Gaddafi Jnr at a time when it was working on other Libyan government business - in which case, helping the boss's son with his homework may have been deemed a worthwhile exercise. Presumably assisting a dictator's son gain his degree is what Monitor means when it boasts in its publicity: "We help leaders make decisions based on innovative and unconventional insight... and we build lasting impact by upgrading our clients' capabilities for the future."

Says Monitor in its blurb: "Our clients put their confidence in us because we help them create leading-edge results... Clients hire us because our work is exceptionally rigorous, creative, and unconstrained by conventional wisdom; and because we tailor how we work with them with a great deal of empathy for their specific needs and culture."

Adds the firm: "Monitor people care deeply about their clients. We consistently hear from our clients about the extraordinary impact, integrity and commitment demonstrated by our people. We're proud of that, but remain always humbled by the trust our clients place in us and our duty to honour that trust."

Oh dear.

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