Dr William D. James

I am an Ax:son Johnson Research Fellow in the Centre for Grand Strategy at King’s College London and a Senior Associate of the Oxford Changing Character of War Centre. I am particularly interested in projects that bridge the gap between the academic and policy worlds.

 

I hold a DPhil in International Relations from the University of Oxford (my thesis was assessed by Professor Neil MacFarlane and Professor John Bew). Between 2018 and 2020, I was based in the United States as a research fellow at MIT's Security Studies Program and Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. During the 2020-21 academic year, I was a non-resident Hans J. Morgenthau Fellow at the University of Notre Dame.

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My research interests include: transatlantic relations, alliance politics, UK defence policy, grand strategy, the changing character of war, and European security. I am particularly interested in how the transatlantic relationship will evolve as the geopolitical and economic centre of gravity shifts to Asia. 

 

My first book, British Grand Strategy in the Age of American Hegemony, will be published by Oxford University Press in early 2024. My work has been published in academic journals such as the European Journal of International Security and International Politics, as well as outlets such as War on the Rocks and Engelsberg Ideas. I have also written for the UK in a Changing Europe, a think tank that produces independent research on UK-EU relations.

 

One of my goals is to produce academically rigorous research which is accessible and useful for policymakers. To that end, I have submitted written evidence to three parliamentary inquiries on British foreign policy. I also regularly provide support and historically informed analyses to civil servants and the armed forces. 

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In December 2020, I won the Royal United Services Institute's Trench Gascoigne essay competition for original writing on defence and security. The prize, which dates back to 1874, was presented by the UK Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir Nick Carter, and former Deputy Prime Minister, Sir David Lidington. I was previously awarded joint second place in the same competition in 2018. Both essays have been published in the RUSI Journal. 

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I hold a First in Politics from the University of Durham, where I was the beneficiary of a Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarship for Academic Excellence. I then studied for an MPhil in International Relations at the University of Cambridge, for which I was awarded a Distinction. Between finishing my studies in Cambridge and commencing the DPhil at Oxford, I worked in the private sector and volunteered on two national political campaigns in Australia and the UK. 

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Outside of work, I enjoy cooking, travelling, learning French, swimming, scuba-diving and playing squash. I am also a long-suffering Bath Rugby fan.