RC Drill Set 1, Question 10

Working the answers

• A

  Neither account compares two dominant parties under PR with two dominant parties under a non-PR system. We don't have the evidence for this particular comparison.

• B

  Proportional seats don't prevent a party from electing many candidates. A party with substantial support could receive a substantial share of the seats.

• C

  A narrower focus isn't the same as greater responsiveness. A says small parties focus on particular population segments, but neither account establishes that they serve their own supporters more responsively than larger parties serve theirs.

• D

  Neither establishes that winner-take-all rules prevent policy convergence. A instead links the need for broad electoral appeal to convergence; B's 51-percent example concerns representation, not a prohibition on convergence.

• E
  Correct

  This takes an extra step. A contrasts parties that “diverge in policy” with parties whose policies converge. B contrasts the limited choices under dominant-party competition with the wider alternatives PR makes viable. More substantial policy differences give us reason to expect more contentious policy debates. Neither literally says that debates will be more contentious, so this is an inference from their accounts of disagreement, rather than a quoted fact.