Embargo

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Embargo

by src_saurav » Tue May 12, 2015 11:57 pm
For a trade embargo against a particular country to succeed, a high degree of both international accord and
ability to prevent goods from entering or leaving that country must be sustained. A total blockade of Patria's
ports is necessary to an embargo, but such an action would be likely to cause international discord over the
embargo.
The claims above, if true, most strongly support which of the following conclusions?
(A) The balance of opinion is likely to favor Patria in the event of a blockade.
(B) As long as international opinion is unanimously against Patria, a trade embargo is likely to succeed.
(C) A naval blockade of Patria's ports would ensure that no goods enter or leave Patria.
(D) Any trade embargo against Patria would be likely to fail at some time.
(E) For a blockade of Patria's ports to be successful, international opinion must be unanimous.



My answer was E .Correct answer is D .PLease explain your technique.

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by talaangoshtari » Wed May 13, 2015 12:26 am
src_saurav wrote:For a trade embargo against a particular country to succeed, a high degree of both international accord and
ability to prevent goods from entering or leaving that country must be sustained. A total blockade of Patria's
ports is necessary to an embargo, but such an action would be likely to cause international discord over the
embargo.
The claims above, if true, most strongly support which of the following conclusions?
(A) The balance of opinion is likely to favor Patria in the event of a blockade.
(B) As long as international opinion is unanimously against Patria, a trade embargo is likely to succeed.
(C) A naval blockade of Patria's ports would ensure that no goods enter or leave Patria.
(D) Any trade embargo against Patria would be likely to fail at some time.
(E) For a blockade of Patria's ports to be successful, international opinion must be unanimous.



My answer was E .Correct answer is D .PLease explain your technique.
For an embargo to be successful, it should meet two criteria:
1.international accord
2.being able to prevent goods
Blockade of Patria cannot meet both simultaneously,so it leads to failure.

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by andymal » Sat May 16, 2015 8:30 pm
This in an inference question, right? All inference questions ask for is the one answer we know for a fact.

Part of the reason I think it's easy to find this question tricky is that it deliberately makes no sense. If an embargo requires two things such that one thing prevents the other (blockade prevents accord), then how could this thing possible work? It can't. The only option that we know for sure is that D. The embargo is likely to fail. Even more so, notice how the answer even plays it safe and says 'likely'?

src_saurav, you asked about E. It's out because all the prompt says is that we need a high degree of accord. How from this prompt would we know that for a blockade to be successful, opinion must be unanimous? We don't. That just doesn't have any logical basis from the prompt.

What I've learned with inference questions, is that you have to be brutal about looking for the answer you know for sure. The test writers will reward you if you look at inference questions in CR and in RC that way.

Drop me a thanks if that helps. ; )

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by ceilidh.erickson » Sun May 17, 2015 3:55 pm
The explanations above captured the issue nicely. I'll just add: with inference questions, both on CR and on RC, beware of questions that contain stronger language than the passage did! In this passage, we're told that we need a "high degree" of international accord. Answer E ups the ante to make this "unanimous." This is no longer something that has to be true. We could have a small amount of disagreement and still have a high degree of accord.

Be wary of definitive language!
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by RBBmba@2014 » Thu Apr 07, 2016 4:23 am
Hi Verbal Experts - a quick clarification required on why option E is wrong.

IMO,the stimulus talks about TWO necessary conditions that MUST BE met for the SUCCESSFUL trade embargo. WHEREAS,option E talks about what (re international opinion must be unanimous) needs to be met for a SUCCESSFUL blockade of Patria's ports.

So these two things are NOT similar; in other words we can't infer that how the blockade of Patria's ports will be SUCCESSFUL on the basis of the CONDITIONS given for the SUCCESS of trade embargo.

Is the above ANALYSIS correct ?

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by MartyMurray » Thu Apr 07, 2016 4:53 am
RBBmba@2014 wrote:Hi Verbal Experts - a quick clarification required on why option E is wrong.

IMO,the stimulus talks about TWO necessary conditions that MUST BE met for the SUCCESSFUL trade embargo. WHEREAS,option E talks about what (re international opinion must be unanimous) needs to be met for a SUCCESSFUL blockade of Patria's ports.

So these two things are NOT similar; in other words we can't infer that how the blockade of Patria's ports will be SUCCESSFUL on the basis of the CONDITIONS given for the SUCCESS of trade embargo.

Is the above ANALYSIS correct ?
What The Prompt Says: For a trade embargo against a particular country to succeed, a high degree of ... international accord ... must be sustained.

What E Says: For a blockade of Patria's ports to be successful, international opinion must be unanimous.

A high degree of accord means most but not necessarily all agree.

Unanimous means all agree.

So what the prompt says implies that a blockade can be successful even if all do not agree. In other words, unlike what E says, international opinion does not have to be unanimous.
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by RBBmba@2014 » Thu Apr 07, 2016 6:10 am
Marty Murray wrote: So what the prompt says implies that a blockade can be successful even if all do not agree.
Marty - I don't get this how you're interpreting the above as the given STATEMENT of the stimulus/prompt ? Where EXACTLY does the stimulus/prompt IMPLY how a blockade can be successful ?

It's mentioned in the stimulus/prompt: "For a trade embargo against a particular country to succeed, a high degree of both international accord and ability to prevent goods from entering or leaving that country (may be it's done through blocking of ports) must be sustained"

So,how we can consider the following two things similar (or establish a link between these two aspects meeting their success) -

1. What is required For a trade embargo to succeed

2. What is required For a blockade of Patria's ports to be successful ?

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by MartyMurray » Thu Apr 07, 2016 6:28 am
RBBmba@2014 wrote:So,how we can consider the following two things similar (or establish a link between these two aspects meeting their success) -

1. What is required For a trade embargo to succeed

2. What is required For a blockade of Patria's ports to be successful ?
Ah, good point. Not only does E disagree with the prompt in that E says agreement must be unanimous while the prompt does not, but also E talks about a blockade, which is different from what the prompt talks about, an embargo.

Now I understand what you are getting at, and that analysis is correct.
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