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Author Topic: 2nd world countries?  (Read 1675 times)

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Offline Mud Man!

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Re: 2nd world countries?
« Reply #20 on: November 28, 2006, 02:20:55 AM »
So technically there is no such thing as a first, second or third world country then?

Technically. but like you said, the colloquial definition has adapted to a post-cold war world.

However I do think they will fall out of use. We will no longer think about the "third" world as some kind of monolithic block, but of the "Islamic" world and the "Hindic" world, etc. Nations will be thought of in terms of their ethnic/religious/civilizational framework more than which superpower they are allied with.
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Re: 2nd world countries?
« Reply #21 on: November 28, 2006, 02:32:10 AM »
Fair enough. I think we are in agreement then that the actual definition and the common usage have diverged?

I don't personally think it's possible to avoid classifying countries economically until we find a way of either taking our economies down to their level via catastrophic economic failure or successfully improving their economies.

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Offline Mud Man!

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Re: 2nd world countries?
« Reply #22 on: November 28, 2006, 02:52:26 AM »
It will become less relevant, I think. Economic status, I mean. As the War on Terror shows, in the age of globalization, medievalist theocrats can effectively take on the most powerful military in human history.
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Offline Major. Witham

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Re: 2nd world countries?
« Reply #23 on: November 28, 2006, 03:29:00 AM »
I dont think I have ever seen failing former super powers such as Russia, or countries that have developed more advanced economy and industry but are not yet superpowers themselves, referred to as '2nd world countries'. Not on the news, not in my studies, not on the street.

If people are referring to these nations as '2nd world countries', then they are doing so merely out of convenience or because they never understood what '2nd world' meant in the first place.

The term is an archaic one that no longer applies in the modern world, and certainly you shouldnt find anyone teaching students that it can be applied in this way.

CG does make a valid point that terms such as 'Islamic' countries/world or 'Christian' countries/world are becoming more widely used.

This is true, and is due to how we view the world around us. In the 1980's we viewed the world on a technological or military basis. In the 1990's we viewed things along their economic relevence. In the post 9/11 world however the world is often see, described and understood the world along religious/cultural lines.

In 2000 when I completed my studies, the term 'islamic world' was rarely, if ever, used, nor did this world appear often on our TV screens. Now its widespread. It may be another 20 or 30 years before we once more 'reclassify' how we see the world.
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Re: 2nd world countries?
« Reply #24 on: November 28, 2006, 03:44:16 AM »
Well, as we learned it in Geographie (yet another definiton lol):

It was a system used in the times of the cold war, but the terms first, second and third world country got a different meaning nowadays.
Actually we were teached, that there are many different definitions out there, including the already mentioned, hence the confusion i think.

There was even one about 4. world countries:

1. world countries: Modern industrilised states
2. world countries: Newly developing countries
3. world countries: unindustrilized countries with natoral ressources
4. world countries: unindustrilized countries without ressources.

So in a nutshell, there are as many definitions of different "world" countries as their are geography professors  :D 


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