Charles Dunst is an associate at LSE IDEAS, the London School of Economics' foreign policy think tank, where he researches Chinese foreign policy, Southeast Asia, authoritarian politics, and U.S. national security. He has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, and the Council on Foreign Relations, among other outlets. He has appeared as a commentator on ABC News and Newsy. 

​

In 2018 and 2019, Dunst was based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, reporting as a freelance foreign correspondent from that country, Việt Nam, and Myanmar for outlets including The New York Times, The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, and the Los Angeles Times. Among the stories he covered were the American war legacy, U.S. deportations to Indochina, China's growing influence in Southeast Asia, Cambodian strongman Hun Sen's crackdowns, Israel-Myanmar relations, and the Khmer Rouge tribunal. 

In 2018, he was an editorial fellow at the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, a century-old wire service in New York City, where he covered American Jewish politics and Israeli foreign policy. He has also lived in Hungary and reported from Israel and the West Bank, Romania, and Andorra.

In late 2020, Dunst will receive his M.Sc. in International Relations at the London School of Economics. He graduated in 2018 with honors in World Politics from Hamilton College, where he served as editor-in-chief of the college's student newspaper. A native New Yorker, Dunst received his high school diploma from the Dalton School in 2014. 

Top image: Khmer fishermen in the Gulf of Thailand, off the coast of Kampot, Cambodia. 

Bottom image: Montagnard ethnic minorities preparing meat in Kontum Province, Việt Nam. (Photos by Charles Dunst)