The Third World classification has evolved since its inception after World War II. Initially, it was used to describe countries that were not part of the capitalist or communist blocs. Later, it was used to describe underdeveloped and economically dependent countries. Today, the term has no clear objective classification and is decided by whoever uses it.
Many different factors have gone into the designation of which countries are part of the Third World. Since the term’s inception after World War II, the Third World classification has meant different things. Recently, a designation has arrived to represent the underdeveloped countries of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. These countries are often dependent on other poor nations. Many of the arguments about which countries are in this grouping begin in the poor countries of Africa and Asia.
Third World classification was coined by French demographer Alfred Sauvy in 1952. Sauvy, in deciding which countries are part of the Third World, likened them to a pre-French revolution notion of classes. By analogy with the states of 18th-century France, Sauvy called the United States and its capitalist allies the First World. He designated the Communist bloc, the USSR and its allies, the Second World. The remaining countries of the world received a Third World designation.
This theory was supported in 1956 by another group who tried to designate which countries are part of the Third World. The group was associated with the Sauvy Institute of Demographic Studies. Francis Perroux then intervened in the debate about which countries are in which class in 1960. He decided that this Third World designation should be given to the underdeveloped countries of Africa, Asia, Oceania and Latin America.
In 1972, Chinese Chairman Mao offered another talking point about which countries are the Third World. He called the superpowered enemies of the United States and the USSR the First World. He said Western Europe, Japan, Canada and Australia belonged to the Second World. All the other countries, the underdeveloped and China, have closed the discussion on which countries are from the Third World. Subsequent discussions would be decided by academics, political thinkers and leaders.
In the midst of the Cold War, the discussion of which countries belonged to which class was primarily decided by political analysts and national leaders. As countries began to categorize themselves under this term, a Third World movement developed, including Yugoslavia, Egypt and India. By the end of the war, the political distinctions between the blocs became blurred and the term lost its analytical clarity. Since the Cold War, the term has been used to describe underdeveloped and economically dependent countries with high birth mortality and high poverty.
Today, the classification of which countries are part of the Third World, and in turn First and Second World, is decided by theorists and academics. The term has no clear objective classification. It has been defined as an ideology and not a reality. The decision of which countries are Third World rests with whoever uses the term, whether in politics, academics or in everyday life.
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