Dr. Charles Blake has been a professor of political science at James Madison University since 1992. As the head of JMU’s political science department from 2009-2016, he supervised the implementation of nearly 1 million dollars in externally funded projects. Since 2016, he has taught policy analysis in JMU’s EU Policy Studies graduate program in political science, with instruction taking place primarily in Florence, Italy. He has served as the program’s director since January 2020. This graduate program connects students and researchers with EU officials, European policy advocates, US officials, US-based policy advocates, and other transatlantic professionals.

Along with his JMU colleague Jessica Adolino, Dr. Blake is the co-author of the most used transatlantic public policy text in the United States – Comparing Public Policies – for Congressional Quarterly Press. This book examines economic, education, environmental, health, and social policy in the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Dr. Blake’s research agenda focuses on the interplay between democracy and public policy in Europe, Latin America, and the United States. He has field experience at research institutes and universities in Argentina, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Uruguay, and the United States. Dr. Blake is currently studying the relationship among federalism, transparency, and mechanisms of horizontal, societal, and vertical accountability. He also works as a consultant in program evaluation and assessment for universities and for nonprofit organizations.