Three-world model

The terms First World, Second World, and Third World were originally used to divide the world's nations into three categories. The complete overthrow of the pre–World War II status quo left two superpowers (the United States and the Soviet Union) vying for ultimate global supremacy, a struggle known as the Cold War. They created two camps, known as blocs. These blocs formed the basis of the concepts of the First and Second Worlds.[1] The Third World consisted of those countries that were not closely aligned with either bloc.

This article is about the Western political concept. For the Maoist political concept, see Three Worlds Theory.

The "Three Worlds" of the Cold War (in April–August 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 and other neutral countries

Today, the terms first and third worlds are generally used to refer to developed and developing countries.

History

Cold War

Early in the Cold War era, NATO and the Warsaw Pact were created by the United States and the Soviet Union, respectively. They were also referred to as the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The circumstances of these two blocs were so different that they were essentially two worlds, however, they were not numbered first and second.[2][3][4] The onset of the Cold War is marked by Winston Churchill's famous "Iron Curtain" speech.[5] In this speech, Churchill describes the division of the West and East to be so solid that it could be called an iron curtain.[5]

In 1952, the French demographer Alfred Sauvy coined the term Third World in reference to the three estates in pre-revolutionary France.[6] The first two estates being the nobility and clergy and everybody else comprising the third estate.[6] He compared the capitalist world (i.e., First World) to the nobility and the communist world (i.e., Second World) to the clergy. Just as the third estate comprised everybody else, Sauvy called the Third World all the countries that were not in this Cold War division, i.e., the unaligned and uninvolved states in the "East–West Conflict."[6][4] With the coining of the term Third World directly, the first two groups came to be known as the "First World" and "Second World," respectively. Here the three-world system emerged.[4]

However, Shuswap Chief George Manuel believed the three-worlds model to be outdated. In his 1974 book The Fourth World: An Indian Reality, he describes the emergence of the Fourth World while coining the term. The fourth world refers to "nations," e.g., cultural entities and ethnic groups, of indigenous people who do not compose states in the traditional sense.[7] Rather, they live within or across state boundaries (see First Nations). One example is the Native Americans of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.[7]

Post Cold War

With the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Eastern Bloc ceased to exist; with it, so did all applicability of the term Second World.[8]

See also

References
  1. Gaddis, John (1998). We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 1–2. ISBN 0-19-878071-0.
  2. Melkote, Srinivas R.; Steeves, H. Leslie (2001). Communication for development in the Third World: theory and practice for empowerment. Sage Publications. p. 21. ISBN 0-7619-9476-9.
  3. Provizer, Norman W. (1978). Analyzing the Third World: essays from Comparative politics. Transaction Publishers. p. 3. ISBN 0-87073-943-3.
  4. Leonard, Thomas M. (2006). "Third World". Encyclopedia of the Developing World. Vol. 3. Taylor & Francis. pp. 1542–3. ISBN 0-87073-943-3. Retrieved 1 November 2009.
  5. "Winston Churchill "Iron Curtain"". The History Place. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  6. "Three Worlds Model". University of Wisconsin Eau Claire. Archived from the original on 12 May 2015. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  7. "First, Second and Third World". One World – Nations Online. July 2009. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  8. "Fall of the Soviet Union". The Cold War Museum. 2008. Retrieved 1 November 2009.
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