Third World

"Global South" redirects here. For the association of Anglican provinces, see Global South (Anglican).

It has been suggested that Three worlds typology be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

It has been suggested that Three Worlds Theory be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

The terms First World, Second World, Fourth World, and "Third World" can be used to divide the nations of Earth into three broad categories. "Third World" is a term first coined in 1952 by French demographer Alfred Sauvy on the model of Sieyès's declaration concerning the Third Estate during the French Revolution: "...because at the end this ignored, exploited, scorned Third World like the Third Estate, wants to become something too." The Third World later became a synonym for those nations that aligned themselves with neither the West nor with the Soviet Bloc during the Cold War. Thus, the Non-Aligned Movement was created after the 1955 Bandung Conference.

Today, however, the term is synonymous with countries in the developing world, independent of their political status. However, there is no objective definition of Third World or "Third World country" and the use of the term remains common. The term Third World is also disliked as it may imply the false notion that those countries are not a part of the global economic system. Although it is also criticized as being out-of-date, colonialist, othering, and inaccurate, its use continues unabated.^[1] Political theorist Hannah Arendt contends that, indeed, "The Third World is not a reality but an ideology."

In general, Third World countries are not as industrialized or technologically advanced as OECD countries, and therefore in academia, the current term in use is "developing nation". Terms such as Global South, developing countries, less economically developed countries (LEDC), least developed countries and the Majority World have become more popular in circles where the term "third world" is regarded to have derogatory or out-of-date connotations. Development workers also call them the two-thirds world (because two-thirds of the world is underdeveloped) and The South. Some theorists, such as Andre Gunder Frank and Walter Rodney have used the term underdevelopment or underdeveloped world, to indicate the active process by which the global South has been locked out of development by imperialism and the post-colonial policies of the richer nations. Others^{[citation needed]} claim that the underdevelopment of Africa, Asia and Latin America during the Cold War was influenced, or even caused by the Cold War economic, political, and military maneuverings of the most powerful nations of the time. (See Emerging markets)

It remains, however, that more politically-correct terminology continues to imply a path of progressive industrialization and/or (economic) liberalization not far removed from the more plainly ideological "Third World".

The term Fourth World (as least developed countries) is sometimes used to describe the poorest Third World countries, those which lack industrial infrastructure and the means to build it.

Newly Industrialized Countries

Countries that have more advanced economies than developing nations in the Third World, but have not yet attained the level of developed countries in the First World, are grouped under the term Newly Industrialized Countries or NICs. These countries are: China, India, Mexico, South Africa, Brazil, Turkey, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and the GCC states.

See also

• LEDC
• First World
• Second World
• Fourth World
• Human Development Index
• Three Worlds Theory

References

1. ^ [1]

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