Charles Edel

Senior Adviser and Australia Chair
Charles Edel

Charles Edel is a senior adviser and the inaugural Australia Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He previously taught at the University of Sydney, where he was also a senior fellow at the United States Studies Centre. Prior to that, Dr. Edel was a professor of strategy and policy at the U.S. Naval War College and served on the U.S. secretary of state’s Policy Planning Staff from 2015 to 2017. In that role, he advised the secretary of state on political and security issues in the Indo-Pacific region. He has also been a global fellow at the Wilson Center and a Henry Luce scholar at Peking University's Center for International and Strategic Studies, and he was awarded the Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship. He is the coauthor of The Lessons of Tragedy: Statecraft and World Order (Yale University Press, 2019) and author of Nation Builder: John Quincy Adams and the Grand Strategy of the Republic (Harvard University Press, 2014). Currently, he is working on a book examining the United States' history of dealing with authoritarian regimes. In addition to his scholarly publications, his writings appear in the Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and various other outlets. He also regularly offers foreign policy commentary on television and radio, including CNBC, ABC, Sky News, Australia’s RN, and NPR. He is a New York native and former high school history teacher in New York City, as well as an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserves. Dr. Edel holds a PhD in history from Yale University and received a BA in classics from Yale College.

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U.S. Leadership in the Pacific Is at Risk

Funding for COFA states provides Washington with a concrete opportunity for an easy win in the competition with China—but also a test for U.S. global leadership that it cannot fail. 

Commentary by Charles Edel and Kathryn Paik — March 5, 2024

2024 Global Forecast: The China Challenge

In the first installment of the 2024 Global Forecast—A World Dividing—experts examine the myriad challenges facing U.S.-China relations in 2024, from Chinese military activity and economic coercion to competition for tech dominance and geopolitical standing.

Digital Report by Victor Cha, Gregory C. Allen, Scott Kennedy, Seth G. Jones, Kari A. Bingen, and Heather Williams, Tom Karako, Bonny Lin, Jude Blanchette, Charles Edel, Christopher B. Johnstone, Nicholas Szechenyi, Lily McElwee, Daniel F. Runde, Craig Cohen, Alex Kisling — January 25, 2024

Indo-Pacific Forecast 2024

Join CSIS experts during our annual preview of economic, political, and security developments across the Indo-Pacific region.

Event — January 16, 2024