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One World - Nations Online
Countries and Nations
___First, Second and Third World
keywords: first, second and third world, the three world model, third world countries, three-world classification
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Worlds within the World?
The First, Second, Third World and the Forth World
A rough probably outdated model of the geopolitical world from the time of the cold war. There is no official definition of the terms of the first, second, and the third world. Following OWNO's explanation of the terms.
Four Worlds
After World War II the world split into two large geopolitical blocs of contrary views on government and the politically correct society: the bloc of democratic-industrial countries within the American influence sphere, - the "First World" - and the Eastern bloc of the communist-socialist states, the "Second World".
The remaining three-quarters of the world's population, states not aligned with either bloc were regarded as the "Third World."
The in the early 1970s coined term of the "Forth World" refers to widely unknown nations (cultural entities) of indigenous peoples, living within or across state boundaries.
First there was the three worlds model
The origin of the terminology is unclear. In 1952 Alfred Sauvy, a French demographer, wrote an article in the French magazine L'Observateur which ended by comparing the Third World with the Third Estate: "ce Tiers Monde ignoré, exploité, méprisé comme le Tiers État" (this ignored Third World, exploited, scorned like the Third Estate). Other sources claim that Charles de Gaulle coined the term Third World, maybe de Gaulle only has quoted Sauvy. However...
The term "First World" refers to so called developed, capitalist, industrial countries, roughly, a bloc of countries aligned with the United States with common political and economic interests: North America, Western Europe, Japan and Australia.
List of Countries of the "First World".
"Second World" refers to the (former) communist-socialist, industrial states, (formerly the Eastern bloc, the territory and sphere of influence of the Union of Soviet Socialists Republic) today: Russia, Eastern Europe (e.g., Poland) and some of the Turk States (e.g., Kazakhstan) as well as China.
List of Countries of the "Second World"
"Third World" are all the other countries, often used to describe the developing countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America.
The term Third World includes as well capitalist (e.g., Venezuela) and communist (e.g., North Korea) countries as very rich (e.g., Saudi Arabia) and very poor (e.g., Mali) countries.
List of Countries of the "Third World"
The term "Forth World" first came into use in 1974 with the publication of Shuswap Chief George Manuel's: The fourth world : an Indian reality (amazon link to the book), the term refers to nations (cultural entities, ethnic groups) of indigenous peoples living within or across state boundaries (political units, states).
see Native North American Indians
North American Indian Nations
More links to nations of the "Forth World" you might find at the Nations Online Project respective country pages under "Natives".
