Explanation

Reading the question: with a quasi-syllogistic argument, this prompt may succumb to term matching. The last sentence is the conclusion. What terms in there are not matched properly to the evidence?



"Beginning negotiations" is properly matched. "This method," while vague on its own, is well matched with a reference on the other side. But "countries at conflict" does not precisely match with "a nation that perceives itself to have been wronged." Those two things are not necessarily the same. For example, the argument appears to assume that all countries in conflict perceive themselves to have been wronged by another nation. We have our filter.

Applying the filter leaves us with (D), which is similar to our filter, as it involves nations being standoffish always.

Logical proof: we can use the negation test. What if countries generally do meet other countries' demands in advance of beginning negotiations? Well, then, the argument would be quite wrong--countries would generally meet each other's demands, and then they would, in fact, start negotiations. The argument breaks if (D) is false; therefore, the argument indeed assumes that (D) is true. The correct answer is (D).