It has always been difficult to understand the basis of politics in th

Question

It has always been difficult to understand the basis of politics in the People’s Republic of China. Because the system is effectively closed, it is impossible to know with any degree of confidence who is allied with whom and for what reasons. Yet Chinese politics does exhibit many of the external characteristics of factional political systems, as found in more open societies. It is legitimate to conclude, therefore, that China has a factional political system.

Which one of the following, if true, would confirm the author’s conclusion that China has a factional political system?

(A) All open political systems are factional political systems.

(B) All factional political systems are closed political systems.

(C) All closed political systems are factional political systems.

(D) China’s political system is more open than many existing factional political systems.

(E) China’s political system is more closed than all existing factional political systems.

DUtkarsh · Answer

I would go with C
all closed systems -> factional political systems.
The Chinese system is a closed system -> China has a factional political system.

Hoozan · Answer

Argument:  It has always been difficult to understand the basis of politics in the People’s Republic of China. Because the system is effectively closed, it is impossible to know with any degree of confidence who is allied with whom and for what reasons. Yet Chinese politics does exhibit many of the external characteristics of factional political systems, as found in more open societies. It is legitimate to conclude, therefore, that China has a factional political system.

Meaning:  The People's Republic of China is a closed economy and hence it is difficult to comprehend much of what goes on within its politics. However, there is a lot of similarities in the characteristics of  factional political systems  and the  People's Republic of China.  Keeping this similarity in mind we come to conclude that China has a factional political system.

Question Stem:   Strengthen

Irrelevant. We are concerned with a closed economy and a factional one. Information about an open economy is not going to help us in any way.

Factional Political System - Set A 
Closed economy - Set B

To say that China (Set B) is a factional political system (Set A) we need to ensure that set A is a superset i.e. all closed economies, including China, will come under factional system. However, if we make Set B a superset i.e all factional systems are closed systems then China  may or may not  be a part of factional political system (Set A)

Correct. As discussed in (B) only if ALL closed systems are factional then by default, China, which is a closed economy, WILL HAVE TO be a factional system

Irrelevant (to an extent weakens the argument). As mentioned, we are interested in a closed economy and not about an open. Talking about the extent of China being an open economy, too, is irrelevant. Moreover, the argument talks about  similarities  between People's Republic of China and Factional political system. This choice states a  dissimilarity  hence it works against what we need.

Irrelevant comparison. Knowing whether China's system is more closed than all factional systems is not going to help us prove that China's system IS a factional system. This choice too goes to state a dissimilarity by stating that China is more close than factional i.e. Though factional system and China system are close, China is more close. This choice, like (D), works against what we need to find.

Correct Choice:   (C)

rsrighosh · Answer

I do not understand why C is right

If China's political system is closed and factional. Does this mean all closed political system is factional? Why can't there be an exception?

Can anybody help me on this?

Hoozan · Answer

Hi rsrighosh I'd be happy to help We are told that China has a political system that is effectively closed. Then we are told that Chinas political system has characteristics that are similar to a factional system. So because there are similarities in the two, the author concludes that China's political system (which is a closed one) is a factional political system. We need to strengthen this conclusion. How do we do that? (C) says that ALL closed political systems are factional. Now if this is true then China by default will be called a factional economy. Think about it. Just because China has similar traits to a factional one we cannot go ahead and make a bold statement that China is a factional economy. Today if I say, Bob has a few traits that are common to a dog (such as loyalty) I cannot conclude that Bob is a dog right? But now with (C) I am able to conclude this. Go back to the example statement. If I say ALL things named Bob are dogs, then of course we can conclude that Bob, who has similar traits, is a dog. Similarly, If I say ALL closed political system (which includes China) is a factional economy, then the authors conclusion is strengthened. Closed and factional is a wrong statement because Closed IS factional. Moreover, we need to strengthen the conclusion. Keep in mind that there can be exceptions to the strengthen statements. BUT that is not what we need to worry about. Learning 1) All assumptions are strengtheners 2) All strengtheners are not assumptions 3) Assumptions cannot have exceptions 4) Strengtheners can have exceptions --> Hence we should not consider exceptions cases OR build situations in our head that may act as exceptions. Pick the statement that MOST strengthens the argument and move on Hope this helps

unraveled · Answer

It has always been difficult to understand the basis of politics in the People’s Republic of China. Because the system is effectively closed, it is impossible to know with any degree of confidence who is allied with whom and for what reasons. Yet Chinese politics does exhibit many of the external characteristics of factional political systems, as found in more open societies. It is legitimate to conclude,  therefore, that China has a factional political system .

Which one of the following, if true, would confirm the author’s conclusion that China has a factional political system?

(A) All  open political systems  are factional political systems. - WRONG. So, does it impacts the highlighted text. No. We don't know any relation between open and closed PS.

(B) All factional political systems  are closed political systems . - WRONG. Reversal case that does not help as it is not necessarily true.

(C) All closed political systems are factional political systems. - CORRECT. POE.

(D) China’s political system is  more open than  many existing factional political systems. - WRONG. So what!! Such a comparison helps identify anything.

(E) China’s political system is  more closed than  all existing factional political systems. - WRONG. Like D it is irrelevant.

Answer C.

VerbalBot · Answer

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