NinetynineCAT 2022 Slot 1 VARC Q17 Para Summary
Question 17 of the Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) section, CAT 2022 Slot 1, with CAT's official answer and a worked solution.
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Petitioning is an expeditious democratic tradition, used frequently in prior centuries, by which citizens can bring issues directly to governments. As expressions of collective voice, they support procedural democracy by shaping agendas. They can also recruit citizens to causes, give voice to the voteless, and apply the discipline of rhetorical argument that clarifies a point of view. By contrast, elections are limited in several respects: they involve only a few candidates, and thus fall far short of a representative democracy. Further, voters' choices are not specific to particular policies or laws, and elections are episodic, whereas the voice of the people needs to be heard and integrated constantly into democratic government.
Petitioning is an expeditious democratic tradition, used frequently in prior centuries, by which citizens can bring issues directly to governments. As expressions of collective voice, they support procedural democracy by shaping agendas. They can also recruit citizens to causes, give voice to the voteless, and apply the discipline of rhetorical argument that clarifies a point of view. By contrast, elections are limited in several respects: they involve only a few candidates, and thus fall far short of a representative democracy. Further, voters' choices are not specific to particular policies or laws, and elections are episodic, whereas the voice of the people needs to be heard and integrated constantly into democratic government.
- APetitioning has been important to democratic functioning, as it supplements the electoral process by enabling ongoing engagement with the government.
- BPetitioning is definitely more representative of the collective voice, and the functioning of democratic government could improve if we relied more on petitioning rather than holding periodic elections.
- CBy giving citizens greater control over shaping political and democratic agendas, political petitions are invaluable as they represent an ideal form of a representative democracy.
- DCitizens become less inclined to petitioning as it enables vocal citizens to shape political agendas, but this needs to change to strengthen democracies today.
Answer: (A) Petitioning has been important to democratic functioning, as it supplements the electoral process by enabling ongoing engagement with the government. Para Summary MCQ
Solution
- Core claim: petitioning supports democracy by shaping agendas and voicing citizens constantly, while elections are limited and episodic.
- A captures this: petitioning supplements elections through ongoing engagement.
- B wants petitions to replace elections, C calls them an 'ideal' form of democracy, and D invents declining interest.