Are you sarcastic? Is there some UN body or other collection of idiots that is actually going around using “Third World” to describe whatever countries are in need of it’s poverty reduction mechanisms, or something like that? The term has always been understood to mean those countries that were neutral in the fight between the First and Second worlds during the Cold War, on account of their new independence. If what you meant was poverty in countries correlates well with cultural and institutional barriers to growth well, I have no quarrel with that, though that “in a sense” bit in your original post is doing a lot of work. But third world properly refers to a set of states which contain some of the most rational state-craft in the world, certainly better than some countries whose membership in the first world seems, at this point, to be mostly a matter of historical accident, though I’m aware that this is basically code for “set of circumstances I don’t yet understand”.
I genuinely didn’t know that the third world meant “those countries that were neutral in the fight between the First and Second worlds during the Cold War,”.
According to wikipedia, “The term continues to be used colloquially to describe the poorest countries in the world.”, which was what I meant. The cold war is ancient history now, so I guess I’m just too young to have come across the former meaning.
Well I could name you states whose leaders I admire but am wary about dragging this conversation even deeper into mind-killer territory than it already is, I think the more salient point is that few commentators would have difficulty coming up with a list, whether it’d be composed of Asian tigers or Kerala and Bolivia or BRIC (though I’m uncertain if Brazil was ever considered Third World). The difference in membership between the political category of the third world and the colloquial one is evidence of good governance in the former.
Are you sarcastic? Is there some UN body or other collection of idiots that is actually going around using “Third World” to describe whatever countries are in need of it’s poverty reduction mechanisms, or something like that? The term has always been understood to mean those countries that were neutral in the fight between the First and Second worlds during the Cold War, on account of their new independence. If what you meant was poverty in countries correlates well with cultural and institutional barriers to growth well, I have no quarrel with that, though that “in a sense” bit in your original post is doing a lot of work. But third world properly refers to a set of states which contain some of the most rational state-craft in the world, certainly better than some countries whose membership in the first world seems, at this point, to be mostly a matter of historical accident, though I’m aware that this is basically code for “set of circumstances I don’t yet understand”.
I genuinely didn’t know that the third world meant “those countries that were neutral in the fight between the First and Second worlds during the Cold War,”.
According to wikipedia, “The term continues to be used colloquially to describe the poorest countries in the world.”, which was what I meant. The cold war is ancient history now, so I guess I’m just too young to have come across the former meaning.
Because of this confusion, I typically say “developing countries” instead of Third World.
The term I’d prefer would be “underdeveloped” countries.
I’m interested in details about this.
Singapore under Lee Kuan Yew seems a good example of a extremely well run state, though obviously it is no longer considered “third world”.
Well I could name you states whose leaders I admire but am wary about dragging this conversation even deeper into mind-killer territory than it already is, I think the more salient point is that few commentators would have difficulty coming up with a list, whether it’d be composed of Asian tigers or Kerala and Bolivia or BRIC (though I’m uncertain if Brazil was ever considered Third World). The difference in membership between the political category of the third world and the colloquial one is evidence of good governance in the former.
Of course it was. Russia is the odd one on the list since it is formerly a Second World state.