PrepTest 137 - Section 1 - Passage 4 - Question 25

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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

25.

The author mentions the English ███ ██████ ███████████ ████ ███ ███████ ██████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████████ █████████ ██ █████ ██

Question Type

Purpose in context (of word, phrase, or idea)

Structure

In P3, the author tells us that North and Weingast point out that it’s sometimes in a sovereign’s interest not to have absolute power. P4 describes a real-world example of this issue — it was in the monarchs’ interest to be able to demonstrate a credible commitment to pay back its loans, so that it could secure loans on better terms for the purpose of expanding their empires. The purpose of the first sentence of P4 is to provide an example how sovereign omnipotence caused negative consequences.

cast doubt on ███ █████ ████ ██ ██ ██ █ ███████████ ████████ ██ ████ █ ██████████ ███ ██ ███████ ███████ ████

Actually, the author shows that it is in a sovereign’s interest to make a commitment not to perform certain acts. The monarchs’ failure to make this commitment made it more difficult for them to get loans from creditors.

illustrate the low ███████ ████ █████████ ███ ██ ████████

The referenced line doesn’t relate to the opinion of creditors. Other lines later in the passage describe this, but not the line we’re asked about it.

emphasize the unlimited ██████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ██ ████████

The referenced line doesn’t show the unlimited nature of monarchs’ power. It describes something the monarchs needed. But a description of what the monarchs needed does not show how much power the monarchs had.

help explain why ███ ███████ ██ ███████████ ███ ██ █████ █████████ ███████ ███ █████ ██████████

This best captures the purpose of the referenced line. In P3, the author tells us that North and Weingast point out that it’s sometimes in a sovereign’s interest not to have absolute power. P4 describes a real-world example of this issue — it was in the monarchs’ interest to be able to demonstrate a credible commitment to pay back its loans, so that it could secure loans on better terms for the purpose of expanding their empires. The purpose of the first sentence of P4 is to provide an example how sovereign omnipotence caused negative consequences for the monarchs.

82%

reinforce the claim ████ ██████████ ████ ████████████ ██████ █████ ███████████ ███ ██████████ ████

The referenced line doesn’t help support the claim that sovereigns have broken their commitments. It describes what monarchs needed. But pointing out what monarchs needed does not show that they broke their commitments.

PrepTest 137 - Section 1 - Passage 4 - Question 25

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