The upcoming presidential election in the West African republic of Gan

Question

The upcoming presidential election in the West African republic of Ganelon is of grave concern to the U.S. State Department. Ganelon presently has strong political and military ties to the United States. However, the Socialist party is widely expected to win the election, leading to fears that Ganelon will soon break away from the pro-American bloc and adopt a nonaligned or openly anti-American stance.

Which of the following is an assumption made in the passage above?

(A) A Socialist party government in Ganelon is more likely to oppose the United States than is a non-Socialist party government.

(B) The people of the United States recognize their nation’s interest in the political stability of West Africa.

(C) A weakening of U.S. political ties with Ganelon could have serious consequences for U.S. relations with other African nations.

(D) The Socialist party leaders in Ganelon believe that their nation’s interests would best be served by an alliance with anti-American forces.

(E) The Socialist party will win the upcoming election in Ganelon.

AdityaHongunti · Accepted Answer

The upcoming presidential election in the West African republic of Ganelon is of grave concern to the U.S. State Department. Ganelon presently has strong political and military ties to the United States. However, the Socialist party is widely expected to win the election, leading to fears that Ganelon will soon break away from the pro-American bloc and adopt a nonaligned or openly anti-American stance.

Premise : G =strong ties=US
Premise : SP = exp. to win
Belief: G = break ties =US

Conclusion : elect = concern to US

NOTE  : The phrase "leading to fear" is not a factual statement and is the author's point of view. SO we can challenge this. 
Think: In what scenario will author's fear not hold true??? The sentece : "the socialist part... , leading" this is a verb-ing modifier moifying the preceding clause and in this case suggestng us the RESULT of he preceding claus..BUT this reult is not FACT but a poiny of view. WHAT IF this result were not to occur , then would there be any concern??? For the fear to be true there has to be BASE, ie to jump from winning to "leading to fear" we are assuming that the "winning WILL LEAD to breaking of ties"
FIND this asnwer.

Which of the following is an assumption made in the passage above?

(B)  The people  of the United States recognize their nation’s interest in the political stability of West Africa.
- OUT OF SCOPE (highlighted part)

(C) A weakening of U.S. political ties with Ganelon could have serious  consequences  for U.S. relations with  other African nations .
- OUT OF SCOPE

(D) The Socialist party leaders in Ganelon believe that their nation’s interests would  best be served  by an alliance with anti-American forces.
- OUT OF SCOPE

(E) The Socialist party  will win  the upcoming election in Ganelon.
- WE ARE not concerned whether the prediction will be true !!!

redskull1 · Answer

D is very incorrect.Having an anti-American stance is different compared to aligning with anti-American forces.

Abhishek009 · Answer

Clean (A), negate option (A) the entire conclusion falls apart -
  
 Socialist party government in Ganelon is unlikely to oppose the United States than is a non-Socialist party government.

Hesham123 · Answer

For me (D) can't be the answer because it is so narrow, assuming that "..party leaders..." but the voice in (A) is more wide saying " .. is more likely to ..".

So answer is (A).

hmasand · Answer

Why did you guys reject E? Any reasons?

If they never win the election, the argument pretty much falls apart. I liked A better too, but I wanted to risk it.

atrayee345 · Answer

Statement (A) is correct, as the Americans assume that socialist part is not their ally and hence does not allay their fears when the socialist party comes to power.Hence (a).

KanishkM · Answer

Lets re read the 2 options A and D, since they were my bottom 2
(B) The people of the United States recognize their nation’s interest in the political stability of West Africa.
Poeple's interest -> Outside the scope of this argument

(C) A weakening of U.S. political ties with Ganelon could have serious consequences for U.S. relations with other African nations.
other nations -> Out of scope

(E) The Socialist party will win the upcoming election in Ganelon.
Too specific -> Out

(A) A Socialist party government in Ganelon is more likely to oppose the United States than is a non-Socialist party government.
 A Socialist party government in Ganelon is  less   likely to oppose the United States than is a non-Socialist party government.

(D) The Socialist party leaders in Ganelon believe that their nation’s interests would best be served by an alliance with anti-American forces.
The Socialist party leaders in Ganelon  does not  believe that their nation’s interests would best be served by an alliance with  anti-American forces. 
That is the key word which i missed, shouldn't it be American forces -> Irrelevant

Conclusion : the Socialist party is widely expected to win the election, leading to fears that Ganelon will soon break away from the pro-American bloc and adopt a nonaligned or openly anti-American stance

Answer A ( Read very carefully )

krndatta · Answer

EducationAisle

Sir,
Option D clearly mentions that nation's interests would best be served by alliance with Anti-American forces. Doesn't this strengthen the conclusion. 
On negation too, the nation's interests would not be best served with an alliance. Hence, Ganelon would not break away from the pro-American bloc.

Please evaluate where I am going wrong.

EducationAisle · Answer

Well, this is not a strengthen the conclusion question! It's an  assumptions  question. So, we are looking for the "missing piece" of information.

For example:

India is likely to face Australia in the finals, leading to fears that India will lose.
 Assumption: Australia is a better team than India.

Similarly,

Socialist party is widely expected to win the election, leading to fears that Ganelon will soon break away from the pro-American bloc. 
Assumption: Socialist party is anti-American.

This is exactly what A states.

zlishz · Answer

Option E is already explicitly mentioned in the passage. An assumption must be something that is not explicitly mentioned but has been taken into consideration while writing the passage.

AbhishekP220108 · Answer

Lets check this argument

The argument falls under the domino effect type flaw or we can treat this as metrics/definition flaws

We can target with any of the below mentioned logical gaps identification

1. The domino effect- The author assumes that the   will inevitably lead to  , without providing evidence that

2. The metrics or definition flaws- the author mistakenly equates "Socialism" with "Anti-Americanism," treating them as identical concepts when they are not.

Having this thinking we will evaluate option choices

Option (A): A Socialist party government in Ganelon is more likely to oppose the United States than is a non-Socialist party government.
​
The Negation: A Socialist party government in Ganelon is NOT more likely to oppose the United States than a non-Socialist party government.
​
The Impact: The prompt states that the current (non-Socialist) government has "strong political and military ties" to the US. If the incoming Socialist government is equally as friendly to the US as the current one, the State Department's fear of them breaking away is completely baseless. The entire argument collapses. Because negating the statement destroys the conclusion, it is a strictly necessary assumption.

This perfectly catches the logical gaps of the domino effect

dhart · Answer

A) A Socialist party government in Ganelon is more likely to oppose the United States than is a non-Socialist party government. 
A is still in line with the reasoning of the passage of Socialist party govt will oppose i.e have anti -American stance

(D) The Socialist party leaders in Ganelon believe that their nation’s interests would best be served by an alliance with anti-American forces.

The statement goes to say that ithe socialist party will make alliance with anti-American forces to threaten tjhem which is out of scope of the passage

kb26 · Answer

The conclusion here is that US is worried about ties with Ganelon because socialist party will win and adopt an anti-American stance. So, why is US worries because party is likely to oppose. thats why A. D is not the answer because of qualifier best.

The upcoming presidential election in the West African republic of Gan

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GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

The upcoming presidential election in the West African republic of Gan

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