The theory of military deterrence was based on a simple psychological truth, that fear of retaliation makes a would–b...

shunhe on September 25, 2020

Hi @Melody,

Thanks for the question! So we’re talking about military deterrence. Fear of retaliation is supposed to make a possible aggressor hesitate and possibly even deter it. And to have military deterrence nations have to have great retaliatory power.

OK, now we’re looking for something that has to be true based on the statements above. (D) tells us that it’s in the interests of a nation that seeks deterrence and has unsurpassed military power to let potential aggressors against it become aware of its power of retaliatory attack. This is true, because then the other nations will get deterred and not attack it.

(A) is wrong because it brings in “certain knowledge” which wasn't present earlier in the stimulus.

(B) is wrong because the stimulus doesn’t talk about the aggressor’s retaliatory power, it focuses more on the defender's retaliatory power.

(C) is wrong because there could be other reasons a nation fails to attack another one, like being on opposite sides of the globe or something.

(E) is wrong because it talks about the actual retaliatory force, when really, you just have to make the other nation believe you have a huge retaliatory force. It’s possible to do this without actually having one.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.

Abigail-Okereke on January 5, 2022

Is this a must be true question? I identified it as strengthen with sufficient premise.

Naryan-Shukle on January 20, 2022

Hey @Abigail,

This would be a must be true question. This is a pretty typical stem for this question type, others being;

Which one of the following must be true? (obviously)

Which one of the following is supported by the passage?

Note this last one really can confuse students - it is not asking for something to support the passage, but rather for something that is supported BY the passage. Slight change in terms, but crucially different.

A Strengthen with Sufficient question would be worded as:

Which one of the following, if true, would allow the conclusion to be properly drawn?

Or

The conclusion of this argument follows logically if which one of the following is assumed?

Hope this helps!