Dr William D. James is Assistant Professor in Strategic Studies at RSIS, NTU Singapore. William’s research interests include alliance politics, grand strategy, the history of strategic thought, UK defence policy, transatlantic relations, and European security.
William earned a DPhil in International Relations from the University of Oxford. Between his doctoral studies and joining NTU, he held full-time research fellowships at MIT’s Security Studies Program, Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, the Oxford Changing Character of War Centre, and the Centre for Grand Strategy at King’s College London.
William is the author of British Grand Strategy in the Age of American Hegemony (Oxford University Press, 2024) and the co-editor of Transatlantic Storms in Anglo-American Relations: How the Alliance Weathers Crises (Georgetown University Press, 2026). His work has also been published in academic journals such as the European Journal of International Security and the Journal of Strategic Studies, as well as outlets such as War on the Rocks and Engelsberg Ideas. One of William’s goals is to produce academically rigorous research which is accessible and useful for policymakers. To that end, he has submitted written evidence to three parliamentary inquiries on British foreign policy. In December 2020, he won the Royal United Services Institute’s Trench Gascoigne essay competition for original writing on defence and security.
William teaches ‘The Analysis of Defence and Security Policy’, a core course in RSIS’s MSc in Strategic Studies, along with ‘Military Alliances and Security Cooperation’ and ‘Grand Strategy from Ancient Rome to Modern China’.
