Unverified50% confidenceOpinionExact time
Strategic scholar Sarah Paine proposed the fundamental difference between unlimited war objectives and limited war objectives: the objective of unlimited war is regime change, while the objective of limited war is specific limited demands.
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50%
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Long-term
Relevance
10/26/2026
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UnverifiedPaine believes that unlimited war is conceptually simple (the objective is simply regime change) but extremely difficult to execute, because putting an opponent in a death trap will inspire a will to resist beyond imagination.78% similarUnverifiedPaine believes that the difference between unlimited war and limited war lies not in the intensity of the means but in the fundamental arrangement of the postwar political order: the endpoint of unlimited war is that the old regime no longer exists, while limited war means coexistence with the old regime.78% similarUnverifiedSarah Paine argues that whether a war is successful depends not on whether all battles were won, but on whether the goals for which the war was launched were achieved73% similarUnverifiedPaine argues that clarity of objectives is itself a core variable of strategic capability, and that the side able to precisely define 'what counts as winning' before a war begins is more likely to succeed64% similarUnverifiedThe paper proposes that constraints on goal representations themselves can be studied, rather than treating goals solely as fixed constraints imposed on behavior.54% similar
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