“Modern management theory….treats managers…as individuals driven by isolated gain-maximizing strategies. It is diametrically opposed to the traditional German and perhaps European vision of a company as an embodiment of some over-arching value system, in which a corporation is a microcosm of a general social equilibrium.”
Harold James is a renowned historian, specializing in the history of Germany and European economic history. James is a prolific author, having published dozens of books and articles in his field. He is currently a Professor of History at Princeton University as well as a Professor of International Affairs at the University's Woodrow Wilson School.
He was educated at Cambridge University and was a Fellow of Peterhouse for eight years before joining Princeton University in 1986.
He was coauthor of a history of Deutsche Bank (1995), which won the Financial Times Global Business Book Award in 1996.
Harold James has written extensively on the economic implications of globalization, drawing comparisons with historical attempts at globalization which ended with the Great Despression in 1929. James argues the Great Depression must not be considered as only an American phenomenon, but instead as a global economic crisis. He examines the contemporary issues associated with globalization in the context of larger economic trends, which were disrupted by the World Wars and the Great Depression.
In 2004 he was awarded the Helmut Schmidt Prize for Economic History, and in 2005 the Ludwig Erhard Prize for writing about economics. His current work is concerned with the history of European monetary union.
He has written several books:
1. The End of Globalization: Lessons from the Great Depression
2. Family Capitalism: Wendels, Haniels, Falcks, and the Continental European Model
3. The Roman Predicament: How the Rules of International Order Create the Politics of Empire
4. International Monetary Cooperation Since Bretton Woods
5. Europe Reborn: A History, 1914-2000 (Longman History of Modern Europe)
His most recent book "Krupp" is a history of the legendary German firm and he is currently working on a book on the history of the corporation in modern Europe, a study of the 1929 crash, and a study of the history of European monetary integration.
He is director of the Center for European Politics and Society at Princeton. He is also Marie Curie Visiting Professor at the European University Institute, and writes a monthly column for Project Syndicate.
To book Professor James for a speaking engagment call Sandra + 353 1 284 111 or email: