In a recent survey, people were given a list of civil

Question

In a recent survey, people were given a list of civil conflicts throughout the world and asked to name those conflicts in which they thought international power might reasonably be used to effect a solution. It was found that individuals were consistently optimistic or pessimistic in their attitude toward the usefulness of international power, and that there was almost no difference in individual attitude according to whether or not the areas in question were under democratic governments. It is clear that the people surveyed do not consider a country's form of government relevant in deciding whether its internal conflicts should be solved by international power.

Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the conclusion above?

A) Democracies are no more likely than other states to favor international interference on their domestic affairs
B) Many of the conflicts described took part in countries that are rarely subject to in-depth news coverage, and most respondents did not know the for of government in those countries.
C) The survey respondents tended to be from a homogeneous social background and were therefore not representative of the nation as a whole.
D) There was considerable variation in the intensity of civil conflicts that were included on the survey list.
E) Most of the survey respondents had no more than an average knowledge of foreign affairs and could not be expected to make informed decisions on the feasibility of using international force in conflicts described

sajini · Answer

Should be B. 
It's stated in the argument that " It is clear that the people surveyed do not consider a country's form of government relevant in deciding whether its internal conflicts should be solved by international power". While B gives a possible explanation that its not because people do not consider the country's form of government, its because people doesn't know the form of government in those countries.

Ankit04041987 · Answer

can someone explain why A is incorrect , I chose A as answer

iwillcrackgmat · Answer

C is a tempting ans

but B clearly explaing that participants are unaware of the form of the government in those countries..
and hence is the answer..

ranjeet75 · Answer

I do got it correct but time elapsed is 2.30 Minutes.

Very contradictory answers. I opted B as the conclusion of the argument makes emphasis on country's form of government and the option B told us that the people are also not knowing the form of government there.

sajini · Answer

'A' just states that like all other states, democracies too doesn't favor international interference in their domestic issues. It is not giving any information regarding people not considering the form of government in making their decisions. So, it doesnt seem to weaken the conclusion. :roll:

getgyan · Answer

Premise - In a recent survey, people were given a list of civil conflicts throughout the world and asked to name those conflicts in which they thought international power might reasonably be used to effect a solution. It was found that individuals were consistently optimistic or pessimistic in their attitude toward the usefulness of international power, and that there was almost no difference in individual attitude according to whether or not the areas in question were under democratic governments

Conclusion - the people surveyed do not consider a country's form of government relevant in deciding whether its internal conflicts should be solved by international power.

Anything which weakens the conclusion is our answer

Clearly option B is our answer. The people did not take into account the form of governement in the survey not because they were not bothere but because they were not aware.If the people surveyed did not know the form of the governement in those countries, they would have not considered the form of governement in the survey. This weakens the consludion.

Hope this helps !
:-D

getgyan · Answer

A doesnot weaken the conclusion that "the people surveyed do not consider a country's form of government relevant in deciding whether its internal conflicts should be solved by international power". We are not talking about countries here, but the people who have been surveyed whereas option A talks about democratic state and what these states favor in domestic affairs. Hope this helps ! :-D

SUNGMAT710 · Answer

I like your userID...Great optimism..I have given you 1 Kudo...
I like your attitude...

benguy · Answer

its an interesting question

In a recent survey, people were given a list of civil conflicts throughout the world and asked to name those conflicts in which they thought international power might reasonably be used to effect a solution. It was found that individuals were consistently optimistic or pessimistic in their attitude toward the usefulness of international power, and that there was  almost no difference in individual attitude according to whether or not the areas in question were under democratic governments . It is clear that the  people surveyed do not consider a country's form of government relevant  in deciding whether its internal conflicts should be solved by international power.

Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the conclusion above?

A) Democracies are no more likely than other states to favor international interference on their domestic affairs
 the author argument is that, as the respondents are indifferent to the government democracy state, the serveyeds do not consider the country's form of goverment relevant. This choice therefore is not relevant 
 
B) Many of the conflicts described took part in countries that are rarely subject to in-depth news coverage, and most respondents did not know the for of government in those countries.
 correct. As the respondents did not know the form of the government in those country, the author cannot make conclusion that the serveyeds are indifferent to the government's form

C) The survey respondents tended to be from a homogeneous social background and were therefore not representative of the nation as a whole.
 the author makes conclusion on the people serveyed, not the people of the nation as a whole

D) There was considerable variation in the intensity of civil conflicts that were included on the survey list.
 it somewhat weakens the argument, but not seriously

E) Most of the survey respondents had no more than an average knowledge of foreign affairs and could not be expected to make informed decisions on the feasibility of using international force in conflicts described
 even thought the serveyed respondents are not able to take informed decision on the feasbility of using the international force in conflicts, it does not weaken the conclusion that the serveyed respondents do not consider a country's form in deciding whether its internal conflicts should ben solved by international power

warriorguy · Answer

Part of Premise: that there was almost no difference in individual attitude according to whether or not the areas in question were under  democratic governments

Conc: It is clear that the people surveyed do not  consider a country's form of government  relevant in deciding whether its internal conflicts should be solved by international 
power.

While the premise spoke about democratic govt. The conclusion makes a more generalized statement that country's form of govt. is irrelevant.

Something which would weaken is that respondents were not aware about the form of the govt. before replying and could be a possible reason that there was almost no difference in attitude.

Conc breaks

Nightmare007 · Answer

Please explain me ; As i am unable to distinguish between B and E. Thank you.

AjiteshArun · Answer

This is what E says:

Most of the survey respondents had no more than an average knowledge of foreign affairs and could not be expected to make informed decisions on the feasibility of using international force in conflicts described

This option is all about whether the survey respondents are able to make informed decisions. That's not what the question asks us. The question wants us to weaken the statement that  the people surveyed do not consider a country's form of government relevant in deciding whether its internal conflicts should be solved by international power . Unless we assume that an average knowledge of foreign affairs does not include knowing the form of government, E won't give us what the question asks for.

eddy8700 · Answer

In a recent survey, people were given a list of civil conflicts throughout the world and asked to name those conflicts in which they thought international power might reasonably be used to effect a solution. It was found that individuals were consistently optimistic or pessimistic in their attitude toward the usefulness of international power, and that there was almost no difference in individual attitude according to whether or not the areas in question were under democratic governments. It is clear that the people surveyed do not consider a country's form of government relevant in deciding whether its internal conflicts should be solved by international power.

Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the conclusion above?

A) Democracies are no more likely than other states to favor international interference on their domestic affairs
B) Many of the conflicts described took part in countries that are rarely subject to in-depth news coverage, and most respondents did not know the for of government in those countries.
C) The survey respondents tended to be from a homogeneous social background and were therefore not representative of the nation as a whole.
D) There was considerable variation in the intensity of civil conflicts that were included on the survey list.
E) Most of the survey respondents had no more than an average knowledge of foreign affairs and could not be expected to make informed decisions on the feasibility of using international force in conflicts described

Answer is B
Many of the residents in the country does not posses the knowledge of government in those countries so it does not matter they consider the government relevant in deciding internal conflicts or not.

abrakadabra21 · Answer

In a recent survey, people were given a list of civil conflicts throughout the world and asked to name those conflicts in which they thought international power might reasonably be used to effect a solution. It was found that individuals were consistently optimistic or pessimistic in their attitude toward the usefulness of international power, and that there was almost no difference in individual attitude according to whether or not the areas in question were under democratic governments. I t is clear that the people surveyed do not consider a country's form of government relevant in deciding whether its internal conflicts should be solved by international power.

question type : Weakener
people given list of conflict => Put x on any conflict where UN can involve. 
person a was always pessimistic for democratic or autocracy country
person b was always optimistic for democratic or autocracy country

This concludes that no people don't consider in their judgement the form of government.

Weakener:
If we can prove that people have no idea what form of governance is there, if they knew they will change their opinion.
PEOPLE DID CONSIDER.

Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the conclusion above?

B) Many of the conflicts described took part in countries that are rarely subject to in-depth news coverage, and most respondents did not know the for of government in those countries.

das.sushmit · Answer

The answer is B. Let me show you why.

Premise 1: In a recent survey, people were given a list of civil conflicts throughout the world and asked to name those conflicts in which they thought international power might reasonably be used to effect a solution. 
Premise 2: It was found that individuals were consistently optimistic or pessimistic in their attitude toward the usefulness of international power, and that there was almost no difference in individual attitude according to whether or not the areas in question were under democratic governments.
Conclusion: It is clear that the people surveyed do not consider a country's form of government relevant in deciding whether its internal conflicts should be solved by international power.

Understanding:  People who were surveyed were asked about international powers could affect (positively and negatively) conflicts in other countries and how they felt about it. They gave very strong opinions and so in either case the author says that these people don't care about democratic governments. He then draws a conclusion saying that these people do not care about the form of government. What if they didn't know enough about the country and just had to answer based on limited data/knowledge? It doesn't mean they don't care.

Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the conclusion above?

A) Democracies are no more likely than other states to favor international interference on their domestic affairs..  Incorrect. Out of scope. Not about people who were surveyed and how they felt about international interference on domestic affairs 
B) Many of the conflicts described took part in countries that are rarely subject to in-depth news coverage, and most respondents did not know the for of government in those countries...  Correct 
C) The survey respondents tended to be from a homogeneous social background and were therefore not representative of the nation as a whole...  Incorrect. Out of scope. Only talking about people surveyed not the nation as a whole. 
D) There was considerable variation in the intensity of civil conflicts that were included on the survey list...  Incorrect. Variation is not at issue here. Caring about form of government is the main focus.  
E) Most of the survey respondents had no more than an average knowledge of foreign affairs and could not be expected to make informed decisions on the feasibility of using international force in conflicts described...Incorrect.  Shell Game answer. Focus is not on feasibility of international force but on people caring about form of government

gmatexam439 · Answer

In a recent survey, people were given a list of civil conflicts throughout the world and asked to name those conflicts in which they thought international power might reasonably be used to effect a solution. It was found that individuals were consistently optimistic or pessimistic in their attitude toward the usefulness of international power, and that  there was almost no difference in individual attitude according to whether or not the areas in question were under democratic governments . It is clear that the people surveyed do not consider a country's form of government relevant in deciding whether its internal conflicts should be solved by international power.

Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the conclusion above?
  The highlighted portion shows that the people weren't impacted by the type of government.

A) Democracies are no more likely than other states to favor international interference on their domestic affairs - This will strengthen the argument, since the type of government won't really matter in decision making. 
B) Many of the conflicts described took part in countries that are rarely subject to in-depth news coverage, and most respondents did not know the for of government in those countries. - Correct. The respondents had lack of knowledge regarding the various governments. 
C) The survey respondents tended to be from a homogeneous social background and were therefore not representative of the nation as a whole. - We are not worried about the survey features. The argument assumes that all other things are correct when a conclusion is made from the premise. 
D) There was considerable variation in the intensity of civil conflicts that were included on the survey list. - Out of scope 
E) Most of the survey respondents had no more than an average knowledge of foreign affairs and could not be expected to make informed decisions on the feasibility of using international force in conflicts described - We are not worried whether the decisions made were informative or not. We just need to know that the decision was made.

VerbalBot · Answer

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