New Instruments for War and Peace

The regional commands devote considerable effort to shaping their security environments. U.S. Pacific Command reports that its most likely and time-consuming missions fall short of war civic action, disaster relief, humanitarian, and peace operations. Such noncombat efforts, though challenging, pay off in many ways. A report by the Center for International Development and Conflict Management at the University of Maryland showed that armed conflicts within and among states fell by nearly half since the early 1990s. This decline is attributed to conflict management practices and international support for peace building.