Self-study
After the United Nations Security Council authorized military intervention by a coalition of armed forces intended to halt civil strife in a certain country, the parliament of one UN member nation passed a resolution condemning its own prime minister for promising to commit military personnel to the action. █ █████████████ ██████ ████████ ████ ███ ████████████ ████ ███ ███ ██████████ ███ ███ █████ ███ ████████████ ██████████ ██ ███ ███████████ █████████████ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ███████ ██ ██████████ █████████ ███ ██ █████
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why did parliament vote to condemn the prime minister for promising aid to a plan most members of that parliament supported?
Objective
A hypothesis resolving this discrepancy must identify a reason for parliament to condemn its prime minister that does not rely on disagreement over the need for an intervention. Parliament must take issue with some aspect of the prime minister’s actions other than his support for the UN plan.
14.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ███████████ █████████ ██████
a
The UN Security ███████ ██████ ███████ ██████ ███ ████████ ██ █ ██████ ██████ ██ █████ ████████████ ██ █████ ██████████
This does not pertain to the situation described. It was the prime minister who promised military personnel, not the UN Security Council.
b
In the parliamentary ████████ ███████ ██ ██ ███ ██████████████ ███████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ███ ██ ███ █████ █████████ ██ ████████ ███████ ████████ ███████
This is a reason for parliament to condemn the prime minister. If only parliament can promise military action, then they condemned the prime minister for exceeding his authority, not for supporting the UN plan.
c
The parliament would ██ ███████████ ███ █████████ ███ ███████ █████████ ██ █████ ██ ██████████ ████████ █████████ ██ ███ ██ █████████████
This does not account for parliament’s support for the intervention. Since parliament supports the UN plan, they would not object to the prime minister’s promise simply because funding the action is their own responsibility.
d
The public would ███ ███████ ███ ████████ ██████ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ███ ██████████ █████████ ███ ███████
This does not account for the parliamentary leader’s statements. He states that parliament overwhelmingly supports the military action, so it is already known that parliament favors the plan, regardless of their vote.
e
Members of the ██████████ █████████████ ███ ████ ███████ ███████ ██ ██████ ██████████ ██████████ ████ ██████ ██ ████████ ███████ ████ ███ █████ ██████████
This does not explain the discrepancy between parliament’s support for the measure and their condemnation of the prime minister. Parliament and the prime minister support the intervention, regardless of public sentiment.