In order to pressure the government of Country S to become less

Question

In order to pressure the government of Country S to become less repressive, some legislators in Country R want to ban all exports from R to S. Companies in R that manufacture telecommunication equipment such as telephones and fax machines have argued that exports of their products should be exempted from the ban, on the grounds that it is impossible for a country to remain repressive when telecommunication equipment is widely available to the population of that country.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument given by the manufacturers depends?

(A) The government of S has recently increased the amount of telecommunication equipment it allows to be imported into the country.

(B) The telecommunication equipment that would be imported into S if the exemption were to be granted would not be available solely to top government officials in S.

(C) A majority of the members of R’s legislature do not favor exempting telecommunication equipment from the ban on exports to Country S.

(D) Of all exports that could be sent to Country S, telecommunication equipment would be the most effective in helping citizens of S oppose that country’s repressive government.

(E) Without pressure from Country R, the government of S would be able to continue repressing its citizens indefinitely.

SidhantGupta04 · Answer

Option B imo , if the tele equipment is available only to top officials and not ordinary citizens then the country will continue to be repressive

nedunurianurag · Answer

This is an assumption question. Option D is the answer. Negating it will weaken the conclusion

joypeng · Answer

I chose B, but I think D is the correct answer.

mysterymanrog · Answer

D cannot be the answer. The argument of the manufactuers is that the devices they produce, if distributed among the population, prevent the citizens from oppression, and should be exempt from the export ban.

The manufactuers never claimed that the devices help fight opression, only that they prevents it. Therefore, D is not a relevant assumption.

If B is negated, B says that the devices are only avalible for the government officials, which means that the population does not recieve the devices and the argument falls apart, since the devices no longer prevent opression as they are not distributed among the citizens.

unraveled · Answer

In order to pressure the government of Country S to become less repressive, some legislators in Country R want to ban all exports from R to S. Companies in R that manufacture telecommunication equipment such as telephones and fax machines have argued that exports of their products should be exempted from the ban, on the grounds that  it is impossible for a country to remain repressive when telecommunication equipment is widely available to the population of that country.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument given by the manufacturers depends?

(A) The government of S has recently  increased  the amount of telecommunication equipment it allows to be imported into the country. - WRONG. Decreased or increased it doesn't matter. It would still be importing those equipments.

(B) The telecommunication equipment that would be imported into S if the exemption were to be granted would not be  available solely to top government officials  in S. - CORRECT. If its only available to top officials the equipments exported from R to S would not benefit common people against repressive govt i.e. govt. of Country S would be repressive. However, it should have been pointed out clearly that these equipments help in govt. becoming less repressive, indirectly or directly. It has to be assumed that the equipments help pressurise the govt of S when it's available to the population of that country.

(C) A  majority of the members of R’s legislature do not favor  exempting telecommunication equipment from the ban on exports to Country S. - WRONG. Majority and favor both are wrong.

(D) Of all exports that could be sent to Country S, telecommunication equipment would be the  most effective  in helping citizens of S oppose that country’s repressive government. - WRONG. Less effective also helps pressurise the govt. of S. But this is subjective.

(E)  Without pressure from Country R , the government of S would be able to continue repressing its citizens indefinitely. - WRONG. This is bit on the extreme side. There can be other countries as well but the passage is concerned about Country R's perspective.

The highlighted text is the reasoning given for such a conclusion. But what makes manufacturers of telecommunication equipment say so? 
B elaborate relatively better rather it is the only one that elaborates.

Answer B.

VerbalBot · Answer

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In order to pressure the government of Country S to become less

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In order to pressure the government of Country S to become less

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