Data related to the past 30 years reveals some interesting i

[BTGmoderatorDC]

Data related to the past 30 years reveals some interesting insights about the propensity of a country to go into a war. Over the past 30 years, the countries that maintained the highest military strengths were also more aggressively involved in a higher number of wars. Moreover, the likelihood of getting aggressively involved in a war increased for countries whose military strength increased significantly during this period. Since there was no major world-wide war phenomenon in the recent past, it is likely that an increased military strength causes the increase in aggressive behavior and the higher involvement in wars.

Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

A.The data doesn't distinguish between the countries that were consistently involved in war and the countries that were involved in more wars during the beginning and end of the 30-year period.
B. Some countries cited in the data were rarely involved in any war
C.Data shows that none of the countries that had zero increase in military strength showed any increase in their involvement in wars.
D.Situations that trigger an increase in military strength such as political tensions with neighboring countries are also likely to increase a country's propensity to become involved in wars.
E.Data related to some of these countries is available only for a partial duration out of the 30-year period

OA C

Source: e-GMAT

[deloitte247]

In a bid to answering this question it is important to bear in mind that we look forward to picking the option that strengthens the argument the most.

Option A:- Incorrect
On the contrary, the data specified that there exists some countries who maintained their military might and more importantly get involved in war more often than not. There is no need to distinguish between such since there is high propensity for countries with increasing military strength to be involved in more wars than others. It is thus a weaker point.

Option B:- Incorrect
It is not entirely correct because the argument centres countries with increasing military strength having higher capacity to battle on the war front.

Option C:- correct
This is like summarising the whole argument in this option statement. countries with no increase in military capacity have no tendency of getting involved in fighting wars. This is the strong point of the writer's argument.

Option D:- Incorrect
Political situations and unwarranted external aggressions could lead countries to develop their military more thereby increasing their propensity to engage in war. This is true but contrary to what the question specified which is providing argument that MOST Valid argument though incorrect.

Option E:- Incorrect
It is dependent on when the development of the military apparatus began or countries trying to keep data away from prying eyes of their enemy countries.