In sum, the problem of limiting warfare involves not a continuous range of possibilities from most favorable to least favorable for either side; it is a lumpy, discrete world that is better able to recognize qualitative than quantitative differences, that is embarrassed by the multiplicity of choices, and that forces both sides to accept some dictation from the elements themselves. The writer suggests that the same is true of restrained competition in every field in which it occurs.

XREF: Connects to game theory and Thomas Schelling's work on limited war and bargaining, where discrete rather than continuous choice sets shape strategic outcomes.

Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, loc. 196