Stares proposes a comprehensive new strategy for how the United States can manage an increasingly turbulent world and reduce the risk of costly military commitments.
About the Expert
Expert Bio
Paul B. Stares is the General John W. Vessey senior fellow for conflict prevention and director of the Center for Preventive Action at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). An expert on conflict prevention and a regular commentator on current affairs, he is the author or editor of nine books on U.S. security policy and international relations. His latest book, Preventive Engagement: How America Can Avoid War, Stay Strong, and Keep the Peace (Columbia University Press, 2017), provides a comprehensive blueprint for how the United States can manage a more turbulent and dangerous world.
Prior to joining CFR, Stares was vice president and director of the Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention at the United States Institute of Peace. He worked as associate director and senior research scholar at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation from 2000 to 2002 and was senior research fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs and then director of studies at the Japan Center for International Exchange from 1996 to 2000. From 1984 to 1996, he was a research associate and later senior fellow in the foreign policy studies program at the Brookings Institution. He has also been a NATO fellow and a scholar in residence at the MacArthur Foundation's Moscow office.
Stares has participated in various high-level studies, including the Genocide Prevention Task Force co-chaired by Madeleine Albright and William Cohen, the expert working group on the strategic environment for the Iraq Study Group co-chaired by James Baker and Lee Hamilton, and the Task Force on Extremism in Fragile States co-chaired by Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton. In addition to his most recent book, Preventive Engagement, he has authored or edited numerous books as well as several CFR publications, notably Partners in Preventive Action (Council Special Report No. 62), Managing Instability on China's Periphery (Asia Security Memorandum), "Enhancing U.S. Crisis Preparedness" (Policy Innovation Memorandum No. 4), "Military Escalation in Korea" (Contingency Planning Memorandum No. 10), Enhancing U.S. Preventive Action (Council Special Report No. 48), and Preparing for Sudden Change in North Korea (Council Special Report No. 42).
Stares has a BA from North Staffordshire Polytechnic and received both his MA and PhD from Lancaster University.
Affiliations:
None
Featured
Although the world seems destined to grow more competitive, congested, and contested in the coming years, the logic of major power cooperation remains inescapable. Any effort to shape a new international order that is stable, inclusive, and beneficial to all must be a collaborative undertaking.
In CFR’s annual Preventive Priorities Survey, U.S. foreign policy experts assess the likelihood and impact of thirty potential conflicts that could emerge or escalate in the coming year.
A new CFR blog explores how the United States can avoid war, stay strong, and keep the peace.
U.S. foreign policy experts assess the likelihood and impact of thirty potential crises or conflicts around the world in the coming year in CFR’s annual survey.
U.S. foreign policy experts assess the likelihood and impact of thirty potential crises or conflicts around the world in the coming year in CFR's annual survey.
Saudi Arabia’s stability is not under immediate threat, but questions about the Kingdom's fate in longer-term will persist.
Current Projects
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More than four months after the United States and the Taliban signed an agreement to start a peace process, meaningful steps toward an intra-Afghan peace deal have yet to take place. With multiple hurdles to successful talks, including questions about the Taliban’s interest in a deal and about the future makeup of the Afghan state, there remains a real risk of the peace process stalling or collapsing entirely. Our speakers, Seth G. Jones, Center for Strategic and International Studies, and Laurel Miller, International Crisis Group, discuss a recent Contingency Planning Memorandum on the possibility of a failed Afghan peace deal and what U.S. policymakers can do to prevent it.
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In this video of the Council on Foreign Relations’ Center for Preventive Action Roundtable Series on Managing Global Disorder, Qingguo Jia, Peking University, and Dhruva Jaishankar, Observer Research Foundation, discuss what the post-pandemic world may look like.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has already sparked considerable debate over how the present international order could change as a consequence. Some commentators see the world growing more fragmented and disorderly while others believe this moment will give new impetus to international cooperation on a variety of global challenges. Speakers Andrey Kortunov, Russian International Affairs Council, and Nathalie Tocci, Istituto di Affari Internazionali, discuss what the post-pandemic world may look like. For further reading, please see the CFR discussion paper, "Perspectives on a Changing World Order," by Dhruva Jaishankar, Qingguo Jia, Andrey Kortunov, Paul Stares, and Nathalie Tocci.
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As tensions rise between the United States and China, the risk of a military confrontation in the South China Sea between China and the United States is growing. Domestic politics in China, fallout from the ongoing U.S.-China trade war, and accusations over the spread of the novel coronavirus are adding to this risk. Please join our speakers, Oriana Skylar Mastro from Georgetown University and the American Enterprise Institute, and Abraham Denmark from the Wilson Center, to discuss a recent Contingency Planning Memorandum on the possibility of a U.S.-China military confrontation in the South China Sea and what U.S. policymakers can do to prevent it. This meeting is made possible by the generous support of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
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Panelists discuss potential and ongoing crises that may erupt or escalate in 2020, as well as their global political implications. This event explores the results of the 2020 Preventive Priorities Survey, which is available on cfr.org/report/conflicts-watch-2020.
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Panelists discuss potential and ongoing crises that may erupt or escalate in 2019, as well as their global political implications, and explore the results of the 2019 Preventive Priorities Survey, conducted by CFR’s Center for Preventive Action.
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Panelists discuss the potential and ongoing crises that may erupt or escalate in 2018, as well as their global political implications.
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Paul Stares discusses his new book, Preventive Engagement: How America Can Avoid War, Stay Strong, and Keep the Peace. Stares proposes a comprehensive new strategy for how the United States can manage an increasingly turbulent world and reduce the risk of costly military commitments.
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Experts discuss the global political implications of potential and ongoing crises that may erupt or escalate in 2017.
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Priscilla A. Clapp, former U.S. chief of mission to Myanmar (1999-2002), and Derek J. Mitchell, former U.S. ambassador to Myanmar (2012-2016), discussed the country's new government and the challenges it faces in securing the transition to democracy. The speakers reflected on recent changes in Myanmar since the November 2015 election.
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Three leading conflict experts discussed potential and ongoing crises that may erupt or escalate in 2016, as well as their global political and economic implications.
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Three leading conflict experts discussed potential and ongoing crises that may erupt or escalate in 2016, as well as their global political and economic implications.
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The speakers assessed the current challenges facing UN peace operations and also discussed the future contribution of the United States, prior to the summit hosted by the Obama administration in late September on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. This meeting is made possible by the generous support of Carnegie Corporation of New York and will be on the record.
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12:00 p.m. - 1:45 p.m. Opening Luncheon