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), where he oversees its Contingency Planning Memoranda and Council Special Reports on potential sources of instability and conflict. 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 also worked as associate director and senior research scholar at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation and was senior research fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs.