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. The author or editor of nine books on U.S. security policy and international relations as well as a regular commentator on current affairs, Stares has worked at leading think tanks and universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan. He lives in the Washington, D.C., area.

• Preface1. America’s PredicamentI. The Building Blocks of Preventive Engagement2. Thinking Ahead: From Warning to Anticipation3. Acting Ahead: From Reaction to PreventionII. A U.S. Strategy for Preventive Engagement4. Risk Reduction: The Long Game5. Crisis Prevention: The Midterm Game6. Conflict Mitigation: The Short Game7. Partners in Prevention8. Reorienting the United StatesAcknowledgmentsNotesIndex

Paul Stares offers a timely, much-needed antidote to a more turbulent world: a comprehensive strategy, drawing on all aspects of American power, to prevent conflict and advance U.S. interests without draining our human or financial resources. Far from disengaging America from the world, Stares rightly advocates greater but smarter engagement. His book is a compelling argument that strength and wisdom must be flip sides of the same foreign policy coin.

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. The author or editor of nine books on U.S. security policy and international relations as well as a regular commentator on current affairs, Stares has worked at leading think tanks and universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan. He lives in the Washington, D.C., area.

• Preface1. America’s PredicamentI. The Building Blocks of Preventive Engagement2. Thinking Ahead: From Warning to Anticipation3. Acting Ahead: From Reaction to PreventionII. A U.S. Strategy for Preventive Engagement4. Risk Reduction: The Long Game5. Crisis Prevention: The Midterm Game6. Conflict Mitigation: The Short Game7. Partners in Prevention8. Reorienting the United StatesAcknowledgmentsNotesIndex

Paul Stares offers a timely, much-needed antidote to a more turbulent world: a comprehensive strategy, drawing on all aspects of American power, to prevent conflict and advance U.S. interests without draining our human or financial resources. Far from disengaging America from the world, Stares rightly advocates greater but smarter engagement. His book is a compelling argument that strength and wisdom must be flip sides of the same foreign policy coin.

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. The author or editor of nine books on U.S. security policy and international relations as well as a regular commentator on current affairs, Stares has worked at leading think tanks and universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan. He lives in the Washington, D.C., area.

• Preface1. America’s PredicamentI. The Building Blocks of Preventive Engagement2. Thinking Ahead: From Warning to Anticipation3. Acting Ahead: From Reaction to PreventionII. A U.S. Strategy for Preventive Engagement4. Risk Reduction: The Long Game5. Crisis Prevention: The Midterm Game6. Conflict Mitigation: The Short Game7. Partners in Prevention8. Reorienting the United StatesAcknowledgmentsNotesIndex

Paul Stares offers a timely, much-needed antidote to a more turbulent world: a comprehensive strategy, drawing on all aspects of American power, to prevent conflict and advance U.S. interests without draining our human or financial resources. Far from disengaging America from the world, Stares rightly advocates greater but smarter engagement. His book is a compelling argument that strength and wisdom must be flip sides of the same foreign policy coin.