About
Christopher Cramer is a Professor in the Department of Development Studies at SOAS University of London. He joined SOAS part-time in 1993 and full-time in 1996 after teaching in Cambridge and Maputo, Mozambique. He has served as Head of the Department of Development Studies and is currently Co-Director of the Development Leadership Dialogue (DLD) at SOAS. He designed and launched the MSc Violence, Conflict and Development, which marked its 25th year in 2025.
Cramer earned his PhD in Economics from the University of Cambridge in 1994 with a thesis titled The Political Economy of War in Angola and Mozambique. Before joining SOAS, he worked for the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and the Macroeconomic Research Group (MERG) in South Africa during its democratic transition.
Professor Cramer's research focuses on structural change, high value agriculture, industrial policy, development strategy, extreme deprivation, war to peace transitions, and labor in value chains. His work primarily draws on field research in Southern Africa and Ethiopia, with additional projects in Colombia and Brazil. He has made significant contributions to understanding the political economy of violence and conflict in developing countries, challenging conventional wisdoms about economic performance in African contexts. His recent work has increasingly focused on high-value agricultural exports as pathways to structural transformation, particularly examining how classification systems affect production processes.
His recent publications show a strong emphasis on African economic development, with particular attention to labor conditions in global value chains and innovative approaches to measuring extreme deprivation. Cramer's work often challenges mainstream development economics frameworks, especially through his critiques of the Lewis Model, while developing practical tools like the Extreme Deprivation Index for poverty measurement in rural contexts.
- Editorial Board Member, Journal of Southern African Studies (1996-present)
- Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (2016)
- Visiting Professor at University of Johannesburg (2020)
Professor Cramer has supervised numerous PhD students working on diverse topics including coffee policy in Ethiopia, non-state security actors in Nigeria, rural labor regimes in Sudan, and labor retention in Ethiopia's apparel industry. He designed and launched the pioneering MSc Violence, Conflict and Development program at SOAS, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2025. In 2025, he also started the innovative module Structural Change and Economic Development in Africa (SCEDA), co-designed with the Mandela School of Public Governance in South Africa, taught synchronously to cohorts at both institutions.
As Co-Director of the Development Leadership Dialogue (DLD), Cramer leads an institute focused on understanding the political economy of development. He has served on various committees including the Royal African Society (as former Vice Chair), the University of London's Centre of African Studies (as former Chair), and SOAS committees including the Honorary Degrees Committee and the project board for the Paul Webley Wing construction project.
