Dr William D. James

Books:

• Transatlantic Storms in Anglo-American Relations: How the Alliance Weathers Crises (Georgetown University Press, 2026), co-edited with Professor Greg Kennedy

• British Grand Strategy in the Age of American Hegemony (Oxford University Press, 2024)

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Academic (peer-reviewed) journal articles:

• 'Stewarding Pax Americana: How core allies respond when the hegemon wavers', International Affairs (2026)

• '"Neville, you must remember you don't know anything about foreign affairs": Assurance, air power, and alternative histories to appeasement', Journal of Strategic Studies, 48:4 (2025)

• 'Influencing the United States: is the game worth the candle for junior allies?', International Politics, 59:6 (2022)

• 'Global Britain's strategic problem East of Suez', European Journal of International Security, 6:2 (2021)

• 'Between a pandemic and a hard Brexit: grand strategic thinking in an age of nationalism, renewed geopolitical competition and human insecurity', RUSI Journal, 165:7 (2020)

• 'Grandiose strategy? Refining the study and practice of grand strategy', RUSI Journal, 165:3 (2020)

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Book chapters:

• 'Grand strategy and the challenge of change' in The Oxford Handbook of Grand Strategy, edited by Ronald R. Krebs and Thierry Balzacq (Oxford University Press, 2021)

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Recent policy papers:​

• 'Allies and partners' in 'Britain's world: The strategy of security in twelve geopolitical maps', Council on Geostrategy (January 2026), co-authored with Peter Watkins 

• 'Who are Britain’s most important allies and partners?', Council on Geostrategy (July 2024) 

• 'The great gamble: Mass by trust and technology', Royal Navy Strategic Studies Centre (September 2023)

• 'Tailored, tokenistic, or too much? Assessing the Royal Navy’s presence in the Indo-Pacific', Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (February 2023)

• Written evidence to the UK Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee for its inquiry into HM Government's update to the Integrated Review, co-authored with Nick Kaderbhai and Oliver Yule-Smith (November 2022)

• 'The challenge of grand strategic implementation', report for the 'Forum on Future British Strategy', UK Cabinet Office & Centre for Grand Strategy, King’s College London (November 2020)

• Written evidence to the UK Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee for its inquiry into HM Government's Integrated Review (June 2020). The evidence was cited in the committee's report, 'A brave new Britain? The future of the UK’s international policy' (October 2020)​

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Recent articles:​

• 'The key to grand strategy', Engelsberg Ideas (November 2025)

• 'Tony Blair and the tragedy of liberal interventionism', Engelsberg Ideas (April 2024)

• 'What is the British Army for?', Engelsberg Ideas (March 2023)

• 'There and Back Again: The Fall and Rise of Britain's "East of Suez" Basing Strategy', War on the Rocks (February 2021)

• 'Biden time for the transatlantic relationship?', The UK in a Changing Europe (November 2020)

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Recent book reviews:

• Roundtable review of False Prophets: British Leaders Fateful Fascination with the Middle East from Suez to Syria by Nigel Ashton, H-Diplo (2026)

• ​Review of Rivals in arms: the rise of UK–France defence relations in the twenty-first century by Alice Pannier, International Affairs, 98:2 (2022)

• Review of Comparative Grand Strategy: A Framework and Cases by Thierry Balzacq, Peter Dombrowski and Simon Reich (eds.), International Affairs, 96:1 (2020)

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