First World: Difference between revisions
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[[Image:Developed countries.png|thumb|First world]] |
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The subjective terms '''First World''', [[Second World]], and [[Third World]] were used to divide the nations of [[Earth]] into three broad categories. The three terms did not arise simultaneously. After [[World War II]], people began to speak of the [[NATO]] and [[Warsaw Pact]] countries as two major blocs, often using such terms as the "[[NATO|Western bloc]]" and the "[[Eastern bloc]]." The two "worlds" were not numbered. It was eventually pointed out that there were a great many countries that fit into neither category, and in the 1950s this latter group came to be called the Third World. (see [[Third World]] for a fuller treatment of the history of the terms). |
The subjective terms '''First World''', [[Second World]], and [[Third World]] were used to divide the nations of [[Earth]] into three broad categories. The three terms did not arise simultaneously. After [[World War II]], people began to speak of the [[NATO]] and [[Warsaw Pact]] countries as two major blocs, often using such terms as the "[[NATO|Western bloc]]" and the "[[Eastern bloc]]." The two "worlds" were not numbered. It was eventually pointed out that there were a great many countries that fit into neither category, and in the 1950s this latter group came to be called the Third World. (see [[Third World]] for a fuller treatment of the history of the terms). |
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Revision as of 09:33, 26 July 2006
The subjective terms First World, Second World, and Third World were used to divide the nations of Earth into three broad categories. The three terms did not arise simultaneously. After World War II, people began to speak of the NATO and Warsaw Pact countries as two major blocs, often using such terms as the "Western bloc" and the "Eastern bloc." The two "worlds" were not numbered. It was eventually pointed out that there were a great many countries that fit into neither category, and in the 1950s this latter group came to be called the Third World. (see Third World for a fuller treatment of the history of the terms).
Eventually, nations within the Western European and United States' sphere of influence (e.g., the NATO countries) came to be called (unofficially) the First World. Besides North America (USA and Canada) and Western Europe, the First World also included other industrialized capitalist countries such as Japan and some of the former British colonies, particularly Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
There were a number of countries that did not fit comfortably into this neat definition of partition, including Switzerland, Sweden, and the Republic of Ireland, who chose to be neutral. Finland was under the Soviet Union's sphere of influence but was not communist, nor was it a member of the Warsaw Pact. Austria was under the United States' sphere of influence, but in 1955, when the country became a fully independent republic, it did so under the influence that it remain neutral. Turkey, which joined NATO in 1952, was not predominantly in Western Europe and was not industrialized. Spain did not join NATO until 1982, towards the end of the Cold War and after the death of the authoritarian dictator Francisco Franco.
In modern usage, after the end of the Cold War, the term First World has come to denote the 'developed' Industrialized-Capitalistic nations that in 2000 had a higher GDP per capita than $15,000, as stated by the World Bank. This would include the United States, Canada, Japan, the countries of the European Union (in 2000), Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, Singapore, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan (The Republic of China), and South Korea. The World Bank also denotes these as "High Income Economies."[1]
In recent years, as many "developing" countries have industrialized, the term Fourth World has been coined to refer to countries that have "lagged behind" and still lack industrial infrastructure. However, these are completely subjective terms usually used by people from economically dominant nations.
Some nations have developed their own classification scheme consisting of the "Third World," and the "Two-Thirds World." This system is similar to the former in that it also reflects economic status or behaviour. In terms of material resources, the "Third World" takes just one third of the pie, while the "Two-Thirds World" unjustifiably takes two-thirds of the pie.