Chapter 3 (p. 63-64) Is Early Early? A Review of Response Mechanisms and Instruments Advances over the past 15 years or so in early and rapid response have been made in the range of institutions, mechanisms, instruments and processes available to manage violent conflict – and in national, regional and international willingness to use force in situations of violent conflict. However, more has not necessarily meant better. In fact, the multiplicity of actors and responses means that the problem of late, incoherent, fragmented, and confused response is perhaps greater today than it was at the time of the Rwandan genocide. If the problem was then that "early warning is not wired to the bulb", today it may be that there are too many bulbs competing with each other and not working when they should. External response capabilities to situations of violent conflict and state fragility have evolved significantly since the genocide in Rwanda and the Balkan conflicts in the 1990p. As explained in a 2005 ICG review of European Union crisis response capacity, since 2002 "much has changed for the better in both conflict prevention and conflict management. Mechanisms then only planned or just introduced such as the Political and Security Committee are functioning well, important new ones such as the European Defence Agency have come on line. The enlarged EU has gained experience with police and military missions in the Balkans and Africa and has just launched its most ambitious operation, replacing NATO as Bosnia’s primary security provider" (ICG, 2005). Similarly, capabilities among regional organisations has grown, with stronger mandates, new protocols, additional committees and departments, and increased staffing seen in the AU, ECOWAS, IGAD, SADC, and ECCAp. Beyond the growth of institutional capabilities, much has also been learned about the different operational and structural prevention measures that can be used as responses to violent conflict (see Table 3.1 for samples of both types of measures from the Carnegie Commission, and the 2001 OECD/DAC Guidelines on Conflict Prevention for more information). A robust review of capabilities for early and rapid response to violent conflicts and state fragility requires a clear understanding of the institutions involved and the mechanisms, processes and instruments used to deliver responses, as well as the response "toolbox" itself. It also needs to consider good practice and the obstacles to such practice, along with the evidence base for decision making – particularly as they present themselves at the level of implementation. Such a thorough review, however, is not within the scope of this discussion. Rather, in order to draw some preliminary conclusions on early and rapid response, this chapter provides: (a) an overview of findings from evaluations of operational and structural prevention, (b) drawing from this and other literature, some observations on good practice in response, (c) a survey sample of selected response delivery mechanisms/instruments from different agencies that have participated in this report, and (d) a discussion of the challenges in the warning-response link in greater detail.