James Crabtree

James Crabtree is an Associate Professor in Practice at the LKY school, as well as a senior fellow at the Centre on Asia and Globalisation (CAG). He initially joined the school as a Senior Visiting Research Fellow in 2016, on sabbatical from his previous job at the Financial Times. Between 2011 and 2016, James led the FT’s coverage of Indian business as Mumbai bureau chief, having previously worked on the opinion page in London, as Comment Editor.

At the school, James teaches courses on leadership and political communication, as well as the economic and political implications of the global financial crisis. As a fellow at CAG, he works on various topics related to the future of globalization, from the future of connectivity in Asia to relations between China and India. James is also a non-resident fellow at the Asia programme at Chatham House in London, and writes a fortnightly column for Nikkei Asian Review.

Before joining the FT, he was deputy editor at Prospect, Britain’s leading monthly magazine of politics and idea. He has also written for a range of other global publications, including the Economist, Wired, and Foreign Policy.

Before journalism, James was a senior policy advisor in the UK Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit under Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. 

His book, The Billionaire Raj: A Journey Through India's New Gilded Age, was published in mid-2018, by Random House in America, One World in the UK, and Harper Collins in India.