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nightblade354
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Joined: 31 Jul 2017
Last visit: 18 Nov 2025
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Status:He came. He saw. He conquered. -- Going to Business School -- Corruptus in Extremis
Location: United States (MA)
Concentration: Finance, Economics
Schools: Darden '25 (M)
Expert reply
07 May 2019, 04:45
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B
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
85%
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Question Stats:
54% (02:23) correct
46%
(02:44)
wrong
based on 989
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After the Second World War, the charter of the newly formed United Nations established an eleven-member Security Council and charged it with taking collective action in response to threats to world peace. The charter further provided that the five nations that were then the major powers would permanently have sole authority to cast vetoes. The reason given for this arrangement was that the burden of maintaining world peace would rest on the world's major powers and should be required to assume the burden of enforcing a decision it found repugnant.
The reasoning given for the structure of the Security Council assumes that
(A) it does not make sense to provide for democracy among nations when nations themselves are not all democracies
(B) no nation that was not among the major powers at the end of the Second World War would become a major power
(C) nations would not eventually gravitate into large geographical blocs, each containing minor powers as well as at least one major power
(D) minor powers would not ally themselves with major powers to gain the protection of the veto exercised by major powers
(E) decisions reached by a majority of nations in response to threats to world peace would be biased in favor of one or more major powers
The reasoning given for the structure of the Security Council assumes that
(A) it does not make sense to provide for democracy among nations when nations themselves are not all democracies
(B) no nation that was not among the major powers at the end of the Second World War would become a major power
(C) nations would not eventually gravitate into large geographical blocs, each containing minor powers as well as at least one major power
(D) minor powers would not ally themselves with major powers to gain the protection of the veto exercised by major powers
(E) decisions reached by a majority of nations in response to threats to world peace would be biased in favor of one or more major powers
08 May 2019, 05:40
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The correct answer here should be B. There are two potential traps that one can fall into here, and avoiding both is crucial.
The first is that the way we reason in real life is very different from the way the GMAT requires us to reason. There's a very real tendency to bring our knowledge, assumptions, and biases into this real world situation, but it is essential to remember that the GMAT expects you to solve this question even if you know nothing about the UN or the Cold War.
The second is the trap of identifying what the question wants of us. The stem speaks about structure, but is actually asking us to identify an assumption that allows the Security Council to make its argument. In this case, its argument is the decision that the five world powers at the time should [i]permanently be given the right to veto a decision, since the burden of enforcing tough decisions should fall to major powers[/i].
This seems like very clear cut reasoning, except for the word "permanently". We don't know if these countries will continue to be powers forever, so the assumption must rest somewhere on that front, rather than on the 'real world' concerns of bias or not.
A - There is nothing stated at all about countries being democratic or not, and this has no impact on the decision to choose these powers forever. OUT
B - This option actually looks at the possibility that some new nation would become a world power, and suggests it wont happen. Thus, it makes sense that the pre-existing major powers are given permanent veto power, since the Security Council has assumed no one else will join these nations. This answer is therefore CORRECT.
C - History buffs may recognise that something of this sort happened anyway, and that's what makes such options tempting. However, if we remember that the GMAT does NOT want you to use external knowledge, and focus on the actual conclusion in this argument, it becomes evident that this actually has nothing to do with the decision to give veto power. OUT
D - This option at least talks about the impact of major nations having veto power, which is the conclusion. However, if this assumption is true or not, it makes little difference to the argument itself. The major powers have veto power to "make tough decisions". Whether small nations ally with them or not to benefit from these decisions does not make a difference, since they cannot influence the decision in the first place. OUT
E - Just like with option C, the assumption marked here has some bearing on real world intentions and outcomes. However, it has nothing to do with the conclusion, because the conclusion has nothing to do with bias. OUT
The GMAT loves to blur the line between actual day to day reasoning and formal logic to try and play "GOTCHA!" with you. Don't let them do it!
- Matoo
General Discussion
08 May 2019, 21:30
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nightblade354
The power given by the charter to the 5 nations is permanent and that can only be done if the charter assumes that no other nation (except these 5) can become a major power nation ever.
Hence option B.
