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Difficulty: MediumSufficient Assumption

Political theorist: A democratic government is legitimate only if it governs with the consent of the governed. Recent independent surveys demonstrate that a majority of the citizens in the nation of Oakhaven strongly oppose the current government's sweeping economic reforms. Therefore, it is clear that the government of Oakhaven has lost its legitimacy.

Which one of the following, if assumed, allows the political theorist's conclusion to be properly drawn?

  1. A
    Any government that fails to govern with the consent of the governed will face strong opposition from a majority of its citizens regarding its sweeping economic reforms.
  2. B
    At least some citizens of Oakhaven who strongly oppose the sweeping economic reforms have withdrawn their consent to be governed by the current government.
  3. C
    Citizens in democratic nations are generally more likely to express their lack of consent to be governed through public surveys than through civil disobedience.
  4. Any government whose sweeping economic reforms are strongly opposed by a majority of its citizens fails to govern with the consent of the governed.Answer
  5. E
    A democratic government's legitimacy depends more on the long-term economic success of its policies than on the immediate public approval of those policies.

Answer

The correct assumption is that any government whose sweeping economic reforms are strongly opposed by a majority of its citizens fails to govern with the consent of the governed.
The argument requires a logical bridge between the citizens' opposition to economic policies and the withdrawal of their overall consent to be governed. By establishing a universal rule that majority opposition to sweeping economic reforms guarantees that a government fails to govern with the consent of the governed, this assumption perfectly completes the logical chain. When combined with the premises, it forces the conclusion to be absolutely true.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the conclusion.
The main conclusion is that the government of Oakhaven has lost its legitimacy.
Identifying the final claim is always the critical first step in evaluating an argument's structure.
2
Analyze the premises.
Premise 1 states that legitimacy requires governing with the consent of the governed. Premise 2 states that a majority of Oakhaven citizens strongly oppose the government's current economic reforms.
We must identify the exact evidence provided to see what is missing in the logical chain.
3
Identify the logical gap.
The argument makes a leap from the fact that 'citizens oppose economic reforms' to the conclusion that the government has 'lost legitimacy' (which, based on the first premise, means it no longer governs with their consent).
A sufficient assumption must explicitly provide this missing link to force the conclusion to follow with 100% certainty.
4
Formulate the required bridge.
We need a conditional rule stating that if a majority opposes a government's economic reforms, then that government fails to govern with the consent of the governed.
Applying this rule to Oakhaven's situation directly triggers the condition for losing legitimacy.

Key Concept

Bridging logical gaps in conditional arguments
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Topics

Sufficient Assumption

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