James is a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Economy. He is researching the political economy of social movements in London during the ‘long Sixties’ (1955-75), in order to formulate a grounded theory of solidarity. Tangential to this is his work on internationalist and diasporic political movements, oral history, and contemporary politics.

James previously trained in History (BA Hons, specialising in the political history of the Middle East) at the Universities of Southampton and Sydney, and in PPE (MSc) at Birkbeck, University of London. Beyond academia, he has had a career in policy research and political campaigning, particularly in relation to international tax justice (TJN, International Budget Partnership), climate politics (Green New Deal UK, Uplift), and UK healthcare (HSJ Information). He is also employed as a researcher on the ISRF-funded project, 'Need, Anxiety & Solidarity: Object Relations, Psychoanalysis, and Markets' at Birkbeck.

Research interests

• Historical political economy
• International political economy
• Social movement theory
• Political theory

Teaching

• Political economy of the Middle East
• Critical theory
• Political theory

PhD supervisors

Dr Gabriel Leon-Ablan and Dr Steven Klein