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a blog with cultural bulimia.

Wednesday, May 12, 2004

Second World

As defined by the same people who invented World Maps, where North is always on top. How convenient...
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.

'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.

'Third World' are all the other countries, today often used to roughly 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.

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, the term refers to nations (cultural entities, ethnic groups) of indigenous peoples living within or across state boundaries (political units, states).
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