#11 - Many of the presidents and prime ministers who have

[Eric Ockert]

Hi Sophia!

The first sentence is simply telling you that there are many instances of these individuals having success even though they didn't have any prior experience in foreign affairs. If you can achieve success without prior experience, that is enough to tell you that you don't need prior experience. In other words, prior experience is not necessary for success.

I probably wouldn't diagram this statement as it is really denying a conditional relationship, rather than establishing one.

Hope that helps!

[iLSAT180]

Hi! I am having trouble eliminating (D). I assumed based on the last sentence ("In fact, prior experience alone will be of little value to a foreign policy maker who lacks all three") that these three traits would be necessary because a foreign policy maker clearly needs them. And being a foreign policy maker is the first step to having a successful foreign policy, so if you don't have these traits necessary to be a foreign policy maker then you don't have the traits necessary for a successful foreign policy? I understand how these traits can be sufficient based on the use of the word "anyone" passage, but wouldn't the last sentence indicate that they are also necessary?

[Jeremy Press]

Hi iLSAT180,

Go a little deeper with the last sentence of the stimulus. Here's how I'd break that sentence down: "If foreign policymakers lack the three traits, then their prior experience will be of little value to them." Take a second look at that necessary condition: "their prior experience will be of little value to them." That doesn't necessarily mean they absolutely can't succeed. It just means they won't be able to rely on their experience to give them success. Maybe there could be other traits (creativity? strong empathy with opposing parties in disputes? magnetic personality?) that would let them succeed. We just don't know because the statement itself wasn't so definitive. I'd agree with you that the traits would be necessary for a successful foreign policy, IF the last sentence had read: "In fact, no successful foreign policy can be made by a foreign policymaker who lacks all three of these traits." But....that's not quite what it says!

I hope this helps!

[elite097]

Did not quite understand why not D? How can we conclude other things might help like creativit etc? It says prior experience is not enough without other 3 traits. That means the other three traits are necessary. What if they have any other fourth trait along with prior experience but none of these three traits, then we cant say it will be helpful for policy maker hence we can say these three are necessary traits.

[Luke Haqq]

Hi elite097!

Answer choice (D) states, "An acute political sense, a disciplined temperament, and a highly developed ability to absorb and retain information are each necessary conditions for a president or prime minister to have a successful foreign policy."

The problem with (D) is that it states the mentioned traits "are each necessary conditions." The relevant language in the stimulus is that "anyone with an acute political sense, a disciplined temperament, and a highly developed ability to absorb and retain information can quickly learn to conduct a successful foreign policy."

That language is indicating that these three traits are sufficient for someone to be able to conduct a successful foreign policy. If one has those three traits, that's enough (it's sufficient) for one to have the mentioned success. Perhaps one or more of those traits, or some other traits, are necessary and essential to conduct a successful foreign policy, but the stimulus doesn't say one way or another.