Free World

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For the 2016 American film, see The Free World.
"Free country" redirects here. For the TV series, see Free Country (TV series).

The term Free World is a politically-charged term that was used during the Cold War to refer to the Western Bloc. Even more broadly, it was used to refer to all non-communist countries. Today, it is used to refer to the countries allied and aligned with the United States and those affiliated with international organizations such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union.

Origins

See also: Allies of World War II and Participants in World War II

During World War II, the Allied powers viewed themselves as opposing the oppression and fascism of the Axis powers, thus making them "free". Following the end of World War II, the Cold War conception of the "Free World" included only anti-communist states as being "free", particularly capitalist states which were said to have free speech, a free press, freedom of assembly and freedom of association.

In World War II, the term free world was used to refer to the nations fighting against the Axis Powers.[1] During World War II the term free countries was used to identify the western allies. During the Cold War, the term referred to the allies of the United States.[citation needed] In both cases, the term was used for propaganda purposes.

During the Cold War, many neutral countries, namely those in what is considered the Third World, or those having no formal alliance with either the United States or the Soviet Union, viewed the claim of "Free World" leadership by the United States as grandiose and illegitimate.[2] The phrase has also been used in an ironically negative manner, usually in an anti-US context, by those who do not approve of either United States foreign policy or despise the United States as a whole.

One of the earliest uses of the term Free World as a politically significant term occurs in Frank Capra's World War II propaganda film series Why We Fight. In Prelude to War, the first film of that series, the "free world" is portrayed as a white planet, directly contrasted with the black planet called the "slave world". The film depicts the free world as the Western Hemisphere, led by the United States and Western Europe, and the slave world as the Eastern Hemisphere, dominated by Nazi Germany and the Japanese Empire.

21st century usage

Although the "Free World" had its origins in the Cold War, the phrase is still occasionally used after the end of the Cold War and during the Global War on Terrorism.[3] Samuel P. Huntington says the term has been replaced by the concept of the international community, which, he argues, "has become the euphemistic collective noun (replacing "the Free World") to give global legitimacy to actions reflecting the interests of the United States and other Western powers."[4]

Leader of the Free World

United States

The "Leader of the Free World" is a colloquialism, first used during the Cold War, to describe either the United States or, more commonly, the President of the United States. The term when used in this context suggests that the United States is the principal democratic superpower, and the US President is by extension the leader of the world's democratic states, i.e. the "Free World".

But remember, we have differences with out allies all over the world. They are family differences, and sometimes they are acute, but, by and large, the reason we call in the "free world" is because each nation in it wants to remain independent under its own government and not under some dictatorial form of government.

Dwight D. Eisenhower (to the Associated Press, Oct. 1), The Los Angeles Times, Oct. 2, 1958

The phrase has its origin in the 1940s during the Second World War, especially through the anti-fascist Free World magazine and the US propaganda film series Why We Fight. At this time, the term was criticized for including the Soviet Union (USSR), which critics saw as a totalitarian dictatorship. However, the term became more widely used against the USSR and its allies during the 1950s in the Cold War era, when the US depicted a foreign policy based on a struggle between "a democratic alliance and a communist realm set on world domination", according to The Atlantic.[5] The term here was criticised again for including right-wing dictatorships such as Francoist Spain, and Nikita Khrushchev said in the 21st Congress of the Soviet Communist Party that "the so-called free world constitutes the kingdom of the dollar".[5][6]

Although in decline after the mid-1970s,[5] the term was heavily referenced in US foreign policy up until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991, and has since fallen out of use, in part due to its usage in rhetoric critical of US policy.[7]

Terms implying a leadership role in the "free world" later came to be used for other persons, places, or nations.

European Union

In 2010, upon an address to the plenary chamber of the European Parliament, US Vice President Joe Biden, stated that Brussels had a "legitimate claim" to the title of "capital of the free world", normally a title reserved for Washington. He added that Brussels is a "great city which boasts 1,000 years of history and serves as capital of Belgium, the home of the European Union and the headquarters of NATO."[8][9]

Germany

Angela Merkel

Upon her being declared the 2015 Time Person of the Year, Time proclaimed German Chancellor Angela Merkel to be the "Chancellor of the Free World."[10] Since the 2016 election of Donald Trump as President of the United States, more North American and European media outlets and commentators have ascribed the title "leader of the free world" to Merkel.[11] Donald Trump's failure to affirm Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty and US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement sparked a new round of media pronouncements of Angela Merkel as the Leader of the Free World.[12] Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described Merkel in 2017 as "the most important leader in the free world."[13]

See also

References

  1. ^ Masur, Salim (29 May 2010). "Churchill's lessons for a modern world". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  2. ^ Wills, Garry (March–April 1999). "Bully of the Free World". Foreign Affairs. 78 (2): 50–59. doi:10.2307/20049208.
  3. ^ "Left Alone by Its Owner, Reddit Soars". The New York Times. 2 September 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2012. If the leader of the free world stops by to answer questions from your users, you're probably doing O.K.
  4. ^ Huntington, Samuel P. The Clash of Civilizations, 72 Foreign Aff. 22 (1992–1993)
  5. ^ a b c Tierney, Dominic (January 24, 2017). "What Does It Mean That Trump Is 'Leader of the Free World'?". The Atlantic.
  6. ^ William Safire. Safire's Political Dictionary. Oxford University Press; 2008. ISBN 978-0-19-534334-2. p. 265.
  7. ^ John Fousek (2000). To Lead the Free World. UNC Press Books. p. 130. ISBN 0-8078-2525-5.
  8. ^ "Biden sweet-talks MEPs on anti-terrorism deal". Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  9. ^ "2010 News from Washington". sarajevo.usembassy.gov. Embassy of the United States Bosnia & Herzegovina. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  10. ^ Gibbs, Nancy (9 December 2015). "Why Angela Merkel is TIME's Person of the Year". Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  11. ^
  12. ^
  13. ^ Clinton Says Angela Merkel Is The Most Important Leader In The Free World
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