Third World

For other uses, see Third World (disambiguation).

The "Three Worlds" of the Cold War (between 30 April and 24 June 1975)

  First World: Countries aligned with the Western Bloc (i.e., NATO and allies), led by the United States

  Second World: Countries aligned with the Eastern Bloc (i.e., Warsaw Pact, China, and allies), led by the Soviet Union

  Third World: The Non-Aligned Movement, led by India and Yugoslavia, and other neutral countries

The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned or neutral with either capitalism and NATO (which along with its allies represented the First World) or communism and the Soviet Union (which along with its allies represented the Second World). This definition provided a way of broadly categorizing the nations of the Earth into three groups based on social, political, and economic divisions. Although the term continues to be used colloquially to describe the poorest countries in the world, this usage is widely disparaged since the term no longer holds any verifiable meaning after the fall of the Soviet Union deprecated the terms First World and Second World. While there is no identical contemporary replacement, common alternatives include developing world and Global South.

Etymology

French economist and demographer Alfred Sauvy, in an article published in the French magazine L'Observateur, August 14, 1952, coined the term Third World, referring to countries particularly in the Middle East, South Asia, Central and South America, Africa, and Oceania, that were unaligned with either the Communist Soviet bloc or the Capitalist NATO bloc during the Cold War. His usage was a reference to the Third Estate, the commoners of France who, before and during the French Revolution, opposed priests and nobles who composed the First Estate and Second Estate. Sauvy wrote, "Like the third estate, the Third World has nothing, and wants to be something," He conveyed the concept of political non-alignment with either the capitalist or communist bloc.

The growing use of the term Third World led to a growing sense of solidarity among the nations of the so-called Third World to unite against interference from either major bloc. In 1955, leaders of 29 countries from Asia and Africa met at the Bandung Conference to discuss cooperation. The First Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, notably said the following:

"I have no doubt that an equally able disposition could be made on the part of the other bloc. I belong to neither [the First or Second World] and I propose to belong to neither whatever happens in the world. If we have to stand alone, we will stand by ourselves, whatever happens...

We do not agree with the communist teachings, we do not agree with the anti-communist teachings, because they are both based on wrong principles."

Nehru's speech led several delegates to call for India to lead a 'third bloc' composed of the nations of Africa and Asia, however he declined and no other state chose to fill the proposed role.

In addition, Mao Zedong, the Chairman of China Communist Party, in February 22, 1974 with the President of the Republic of Zambia Kenneth Kaunda had said: "I think the United States and the Soviet Union was the first world. Centrist, Japan, Europe, Australia, Canada, is the Second World. We are the Third World. "This definition, basically according to human development index, with the first popular -- Cold War framework focusing on the difference between patterns that subconsciously -- take a completely different point of view.

World map indicating a Human Development Index (2008 Update)

Developed - 0.950 and Over   Developed - 0.900–0.949   Developed - 0.850–0.899   Developed - 0.800–0.849

Developing - 0.750–0.799   Developing - 0.700–0.749   Developing - 0.650–0.699   Developing - 0.600–0.649   Developing - 0.550–0.599   Developing - 0.500–0.549

Under-developed - 0.450–0.499   Under-developed - 0.400–0.449   Under-developed - 0.350–0.399   Under-developed - under 0.350   not available

History

An abandoned Mogadishu street in 1993

A number of Third World countries were former colonies and with the end of imperialism many of these countries, especially the smaller ones, were faced with the challenges of nation and institution-building on their own for the first time. Due to this common background a lot of these nations were for most of the 20th century, and are still today, "developing" in economic terms. This term when used today generally denotes countries that have not "developed" to the same levels as OECD countries, and which are thus in the process of "developing". In the 1980s, economist Peter Bauer offered a competing definition for the term Third World. He claimed that the attachment of Third World status to a particular country was not based on any stable economic or political criteria, and was a mostly arbitrary process. The large diversity of countries that were considered to be part of the Third World, from Indonesia to Afghanistan, ranged widely from economically primitive to economically advanced and from politically non-aligned to Soviet- or Western-leaning. The only characteristic that Bauer found common in all Third World countries was that their governments "demand and receive Western aid" (the giving of which he strongly opposed). Thus, the aggregate term "Third World" was challenged as misleading even during the Cold War period.

Further reading

• A. R. Kasdan, The Third World: A New Focus for Development. (1973)
• E. Hermassi, The Third World Reassessed. (1980)
• H. A. Reitsma and J. M. Kleinpenning, The Third World in Perspective. (1985)
• J. Cole, Development and Underdevelopment. (1987)
• Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures. (1992)
• A. Escobar, Encountering Development. The Making and Unmaking of the Third World. (1995)
• P.T. Bauer, Equality, the Third World, and Economic Delusion. (1981) ISBN 0-674-25986-6.
• Whaites, Alan, States in Development, UK Department for International Development, London 2007, [3]

See also

• Seven worlds index

External links

• Hans Rosling at TED 2006