James Crabtree is a British journalist and expert in globalisation, based in Singapore. He is an associate professor of practice at the Lee Kuan Yew School in Singapore, and a senior fellow at the school’s Centre on Asia and Globalisation. He provides analysis on topics relating to Asian geopolitics and development, with a particular focus on South and South East Asia.

James’ first book is called “The Billionaire Raj”, which provides a colourful and revealing portrait of the rise of India’s new billionaire class in a radically unequal society. It has been very well received and short-listed for the Financial Times & McKinsey Business Book of the Year 2018.

Formerly he worked at the Financial Times, most recently as Mumbai bureau chief. He has written widely for global publication, from the FT and Economist to Wired and Foreign Policy. He also writes a fortnightly column for Nikkei Asian Review.

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

James Crabtree spent a number of years living in the United States, initially as a Fulbright Scholar at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.