Okay, after further discussing this with the tutor, the decision has been made to focus on one particular point. This gives me the space I need to give a proper argument and a counterpoint (Ie, UN successes)

Firn, I'm not a fan of the New vs Old war distinction either. "New" Wars have been happening since Alexander The Great, so I'm still of the opinion that it's a bit of a misnomer, but I still maintain that the UN is only suited for a particular kind of conflict. I wouldn't say we'd be better off without it, but it's not the one-fix-shop people think it is and I think it's telling that the UN has made huge expenses for little gain in most conflicts.

The Liberal vs Realist thing is the opposing International Relations theories of Liberalism and Realism. Obviously they're not the only schools of though, and they each have general subsets, but the academics (At least, here in our department) tend to focus a lot of those two opposing schools of thought.

Like the New vs Old War theory, I think it's ridiculous to break down international politics to a number of distinctly different "Theories" in an effort to explain or simplify things. When tutors or students try and get me to take a side with a particular theory I usually respond with "Yes", because I genuinely don't believe any one theory covers it all.

- Mac