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• About the Center

  The Center for Preventive Action (CPA) seeks to help prevent, defuse, or resolve deadly conflicts around the world and to expand the body of knowledge on conflict prevention. It does so by creating a forum in which representatives of governments, international organizations, nongovernmental organizations, corporations, and civil society can gather to develop operational and timely strategies for promoting peace in specific conflict situations. The center focuses on conflicts in countries or regions that affect U.S. interests, but may be otherwise overlooked; where prevention appears possible; and when the resources of the Council on Foreign Relations can make a difference. The center does this by:

  • Convening Independent Preventive Action Commissions composed of Council members, staff, and other experts. The commissions devise a practical, actionable conflict prevention strategy tailored to the facts of the particular situation.
  • Issuing Council Special Reports to evaluate and respond rapidly to developing conflict situations and formulate timely, concrete policy recommendations that the U.S. government, international community, and local actors can use to limit the potential for deadly violence.
  • Engaging the U.S. government and news media in conflict prevention efforts. CPA staff and commission members meet with administration officials and members of Congress to brief on CPA’s findings and recommendations; facilitate contacts between U.S. officials and key local and external actors; and raise awareness among journalists of potential flashpoints around the globe.
  • Building networks with international organizations and institutions to complement and leverage the Council’s established influence in the U.S. policy arena and increase the impact of CPA’s recommendations.
  • Providing a source of expertise on conflict prevention to include research, case studies, and lessons learned from past conflicts that policymakers and private citizens can use to prevent or mitigate future deadly conflicts.

• New Council Special Report from the Center for Preventive Action

  
  

  Congo: Securing Peace, Sustaining Progress

  This report, authored by Anthony Gambino and sponsored by the Center for Preventive Action, lays out a thoughtful agenda for U.S. policy toward the Democratic Republic of Congo, arguing that what happens there should matter to the United States--for humanitarian reasons as well as economic and strategic ones.

  Council Special Report from the Center for Preventive Action

  Securing Pakistan's Tribal Belt

  This Council Special Report, authored by Daniel Markey and sponsored by the Center for Preventive Action, outlines the nature of the challenges in Pakistan's tribal areas, formulates strategies for addressing those challenges, and distills the strategies into realistic policy proposals worthy of consideration by the incoming administration.

  Center for Preventive Action

  For more information on the CPA, contact:

  Paul Stares
  General John W. Vessey Senior Fellow for Conflict Prevention
  and Director, Center for Preventive Action
  +1.202.509.8461
  pstares@cfr.org

  Elise Vaughan
  Research Associate
  +1.202.518.8463
  evaughn@cfr.org

  Alex Noyes
  Research Associate
  +1.212.434.9744
  anoyes@cfr.org

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