PrepTest 137 - Section 1 - Passage 4 - Question 20

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Can a sovereign have unlimited legal power. ██ █ █████████ ████ ████ █████████ █████ ██████ ████ ███ █████████ ██████████ ███ ███ █████ █████ ██ █████ ██ ████ ██████████ ████████ ███ ███ █████ ██████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ████ ████ ███ █████████ ██ ██████ ███ █████████ █████ ██████ ███████ █████████████ ███ ███████ ████████████ ████ ███████████ █████████ ██ █████████████ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████████████

Question · Can a sovereign be omnipotent?

If so, then the sovereign has the power to limit its own power which means it no longer has unlimited power. That's the paradox of omnipotence.

OPA · Sovereign omnipotence can be a source of difficulty for soverigns

E.g., the English and French monarchies experienced this

OPA · It can be good for sovereigns to have their power be limited

E.g., having absolute power means you can refuse to honor debts which means that you can't get a loan.

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OPA Example · French and English's unlimited power hurt them

These sovereigns failed to pay debt and expropriated property. Consequently, creditors started demanding high interest rates to capture risk of default.

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OPA Solution / Conclusion · The Parliament's limit of the Crown's power resolved the paradox

The Parliament was able to credibly commit the Crown to honor is debts. Consequently, the Crown was able to borrow at a much lower rate.

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OPA legacy · Constitutional limits to powers as a benefit is now the conventional view

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Author’s Critique · Constitutions can fail to limit power

Author’s Argument · Did not solve the problem; merely shifted it

The paradox of omnipotence still exists. All the constitution does is to take omnipotence away from the Crown and give it to itself, the Parliament.

Passage Style

Critique or debate

Problem-analysis

20.

Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████

Question Type

Main point

The author describes the paradox of omnipotence and why it’s a problem for sovereigns. The author also describes a potential solution — limiting sovereign power by giving power to parliament — and why it fails. The main point should capture the author’s description of the problem and her opinion about the solution.

The paradox of ███████████ █████ █ █████████ ███████ ███ ████████████ █████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██████ ██ ██████████████ █████████████

This best captures the author’s description of the problem of the paradox of omnipotence and her opinion that giving power to parliament is not a complete solution.

84%

Abstract theoretical paradoxes █████ ████ █████████ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ ███████

The main point at a minimum relates to the paradox of omnipotence. The main point isn’t about abstract paradoxes in general and their analogies to politics.

The paradox of ███████████ ██████ ██ ██ ██ █████ █████████ ███████ ███ ███████ ████████ █████ ███ ████████ ███████████

This is aligned with the views of North and Weingast. But the author suggests the problem of omnipotence still existed after the Glorious Revolution.

Contrary to what ████ ██████ ██████████ ████████ ███ ████████ ██████████ ███ ███ █████ ███ █████████ ███████ ██ █████████ ███████████ █████ ██ ███████ █████████

This is too narrow. The main point isn’t about what the Glorious Revolution did or did not do. The author brings up the Glorious Revolution as part of a discussion of the paradox of omnipotence and a potential solution to to it. So the main point should be about the paradox of omnipotence, not the Glorious Revolution.

The supposition that █ █████████ ███ █████████ █████ █████ █████ ██ █ ███████ ██████████████

This is too narrow. It describes the point of P1, but doesn’t capture the rest of the passage.

PrepTest 137 - Section 1 - Passage 4 - Question 20

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