Martin Shaw chose the term "degenerate warfare" to describe how  a belligerent attacks the enemy's civilian population as part of a broader military campaign, as in aerial bombing of cities, but destroying it is not the ultimate goal: the enemy is the state, not the enemy's population.
Martin Shaw coined the term "degenerate warfare" to describe a specific form of military campaign that involves attacking an adversary's non-combatants, but the primary objective is not to harm or kill them, rather to undermine the enemy's government and institutions.