Charles R. Hankla is associate professor of political science at Georgia State University in Atlanta. He received his PhD in 2005 from Emory University, and he also holds degrees from Georgetown University and the London School of Economics.

Charles\' research is in the fields of comparative and international political economy, and he has a particular interest in political institutions as they relate to fiscal decentralization, budgeting, and trade and industrial policy. His research has included cross-national, quantitative studies and also field-work based analyses of India and France. Charles\' previous work has appeared in such journals as the American Political Science Review, International Studies Quarterly, and Comparative Political Studies. Charles is also an active consultant, particularly on topics related to fiscal decentralization and public budgeting. Most recently, he has worked on projects related to Vietnam and Egypt that were supported by USAID and the UNDP.