"Third world country"

Question

Hey all,Does anyone know where this one originated from, and what is the definition of a "second" or "first" world country?Grats.

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Hey all, Does anyone know where this one originated from, and what is the definition of a "second" or "first" world country? Grats.[/nq]
First World - industrialized democracies, The West.

Second World - The Communist East

Third World is an adopted term from the above two. I believe it was coined by Nehru of India but I can't be sure. My recollection is that he proposed that India would be the leader of the "Third World" of unaligned nations. Later it became synonymous with "underdeveloped nations".

During the 1960s some members of the US military were fond of describing the Soviet Union as "Upper Volta with rockets", a snide reference to the actual state of the Soviet economy, and to Russia's actual position among world powers. In this case Upper Volta is used as the "poster child" of the lack of Third World development.

Brian Wickham

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Does anyone know where this one originated from, and what is the definition of a "second" or "first" world country?[/nq]
First world: the "developed" "Western" countries (which also includes Australia... "developed" probably means "gets new technology within a decade" or similar).

Second world: the Communists - Soviet Bloc and possibly China too, but it was very rarely used (1) even when there was such a thing as the Soviet Bloc, so I'm not certain.

(1) as in: when we studied this in Humanities aged 14 (1983), we'd all heard of 1st and 3rd-world countries, but hadn't seen any reference to second.

I've no idea where it originated. I expect it was some 1960s US economist (or possibly journalist. Or possibly both).

LBs

Julie

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Does anyone know where this one originated from, and what is thedefinition of a "second" or "first" world country?[/nq]
[nq:1]First world: the "developed" "Western" countries (which also includes Australia... "developed" probably means "gets new technology within a decade" or ... idea where it originated. I expect it was some 1960s US economist (or possibly journalist. Or possibly both). LBs Julie[/nq]
Not long ago, I posted the following in the "retronyms" thread:

(quote from Usenet post)

Here are the dates that *Merriam-Webster's Collegiate* gives them:

First World: 1967

Second World: 1973

Third World: 1963

(end quote from Usenet post)

This received strong objections from some people, on logical grounds--presumably the thought was that all three terms had to have been coined at the same time. I'd like to see the OED cites for the first use of each of these terms. I was under the impression that "third world" was a loan translation from the French "troisème monde," but I haven't been able to verify that on the Internet. I would think the OED2 etymology would answer that question.

The dictionary at www.infoplease.com at

http://www.infoplease.com/ipd/A0447789.html

has an entry for "Fourth World": "the world's most poverty-stricken nations, esp. in Africa and Asia, marked by very low GNP per capita and great dependence upon foreign economic aid. Cf. *First World, Second World, Third World.*" After seeing that I looked it up in the Collegiate, which gave it the date 1974.

-- Raymond S. Wise Minneapolis, Minnesota USA

E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]During the 1960s some members of the US military were fond of describing the Soviet Union as "Upper Volta with ... world powers. In this case Upper Volta is used as the "poster child" of the lack of Third World development.[/nq]
The USSR was often characterized as "a Third World country with a First World military" but my husband, who was there in 1965, says it wasn't that nice.

Mary

-- Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer (Email Removed) "Turn to kill, not to engage." LCDR Willie Driscoll, USN

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Hey all, Does anyone know where this one originated from, and what is the definition of a "second" or "first" world country? Grats.[/nq]
[nq:1]First World - industrialized democracies, The West. Second World - The Communist East Third World is an adopted term from ... that India would be the leader of the "Third World" of unaligned nations. Later it became synonymous with "underdeveloped nations".[/nq]
No, just the other way round (wasn't there another thread about this, or was that in another newsgroup? See "Retronyms").

"First World" and "Second World" are back formations.

http://www.homme-moderne.org/societe/demo/sauvy/3mondes.html

-- Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

Usenet · Answer

Raymond S. Wise a écrit dans news:(Email Removed)
[nq:2] First world: the "developed" "Western" countries (which also includes ... US economist (or possibly journalist. Or possibly both). LBs Julie[/nq]
[nq:1]Not long ago, I posted the following in the "retronyms" thread: (quote from Usenet post) Here are the dates that ... at the same time. I'd like to see the OED cites for the first use of each of these terms.[/nq]
For "Third World", first quote in English: 1963 Economist 26 Oct. 353/1 Relations between Europe and the third world nowadays.

For "Second World": 1974 Economist 18 May 66/1 The conventional image of recent years has been of a first world of developed market economies, a second world of 'socialist' states, and the 'third world' of the developing nations.

For "First World", no entry, but a quote inside the entry for "Third World", which might have been used as a first quote for "Second World", I think: 1974 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 29 Jan. 13/1 The First World Development was Capitalist... The Second World was Communism, in particular Russian Communism. The Third World takes in all the other countries that are not developed.
[nq:1]I was under the impression that "third world" was a loan translation from the French "troisème monde,"[/nq]
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate says it comes from the French "tiers monde": "third world n, often cap T&W (trans. of F tiers monde) "

The OED-CDv2 is of the same opinion: "(tr. Fr. tiers monde.) "
[nq:1]but I haven't been able to verify that on the Internet. I would think the OED2 etymology would answer that question.[/nq]
The first quote in the OED-CDv2, between brackets, is taken from Georges Balandier's book and is in French; " (1956 G. Balandier Tiers Monde 369 La conférence tenue à Bandoeng en avril 1955, par les délégués de vingt-neuf nations asiatiques et africaines..manifeste l'accès, au premier plan de la scène politique internationale, de ces peuples qui constituent un 'Tiers Monde' entre les deux 'blocs', selon l'expression d'A. Sauvy.)"

As already pointed out in the "retronyms" thread, Alfred Sauvy coined the phrase in an article published on the 14th of August 1952. In it he uses "3è monde", "troisième monde" and "Tiers Monde".

The whole article at http://www.homme-moderne.org/societe/demo/sauvy/3mondes.html also has notes by Sauvy, in which he explains that the use of "Tiers Monde" is an allusion to the "Tiers Etat" = the Third Estate, the representatives belonging neither to the nobility not to the clergy at the time of the French Revolution. Sauvy adds that he sometimes said, as a joke, that the capitalist world might be compared to the nobility and the communist world to the clergy. -- Isabelle Cecchini

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Raymond S. Wise a écrit dans news:(Email Removed)[/nq]
[nq:2](quote from Usenet post) Here are the dates that *Merriam-Webster's ... cites for the first use of each of these terms.[/nq]
[nq:1]For "Third World", first quote in English: 1963 Economist 26 Oct. 353/1 Relations between Europe and the third world nowadays.[/nq]
In a thread last year, I gave an earlier citation from the ProQuest database:

Removed) Charles de Gaulle, after his return to power in 1958, began using "tiers monde" frequently in his foreign policy speeches. The earliest citation of "third world" I can find in the New York Times archives on Proquest is a June 4, 1959 piece about de Gaulle ("He sees France...as qualified to take a leading role in that approach to the 'third world'...").

Now that ProQuest has added the Washington Post to its database, even earlier citations can be found. In a masthead editorial on Jan. 29, 1958 entitled "The Third World", the Post quotes Eric Johnston, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, appointed by Eisenhower to build support for the Mutual Security Program:

Following the war ... many people began to look upon the world look upon the world as divided into two parts-- the Communist and the Western world. So intense was our concentration on this struggle that many of us failed to comprehend that a new third world had been born ... It was almost as if the sun had hurled a new planet into our atmosphere. This new world was born in Asia, in Africa, in the Near East out of old colonial empires ... Today this third world challenges our leadership, our energies, our own aspirations. In this third world arena, the great struggle for freedom and peace in our time is being waged. Our survival will depend on the outcome.

The Post also quotes Johnston talking about "the Third World" on June 24, 1958 ("Johnston Urges $10-Billion Plan For 3-Continent, TVA-Type Aid") and July 6, 1958 ("'Third World' Is New Arena for the Other Two").
[nq:1]For "Second World": 1974 Economist 18 May 66/1 The conventional image of recent years has been of a first world ... World was Communism, in particular Russian Communism. The Third World takes in all the other countries that are not developed.[/nq]
Another 1974 quote from OED2 (under "second"):

1974 Times 13 Apr. 5/7 Mr Teng announced that the 'socialist camp' no longer existed, and that the planet was divided into the First World, consisting of the two superpowers, the *Second World, consisting of the other developed countries, and the Third World, which included the developing countries.

ProQuest has some earlier cites, e.g.:

Helping the 'Third World'... New York Times; Aug 31, 1966; pg. 42 The "Third World" is greatly attracted by the technology of the United States, Western Europe and Japan, but leaders and intellectuals in many countries are also strongly attracted to the ideology of the Socialist or Communist countries -- the so-called "Second World."

Sisters In the '70s Washington Post; Aug 21, 1970; pg. B1 The political origins of the term "third world" linger in Sister Joan's analysis of the Latin American situation. "We call it economic colonialism," she said. "The Latin American countries are out for economic nationalism. The first world countries, principally the United States, are colonizers economically."

Nominee McGovern On the World Poor Washington Post; Aug. 4, 1972; pg. A20 George McGovern's views on the "first world," the West, and the "second world," the Communist nations, are the subject of common discussion and debate but -- to the country's and his own likely disadvantage -- his views on the "third world" of poor and developing states are scarcely known at all.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Earlier than the excellent citations you gave, I think you will find that the term "Third World" was coined by ... Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, 1961). Unfortunately, I do not have the page numbers ready to hand.[/nq]
Yes, you mentioned this in a thread we had on the subject last year: . Thanks for the added details-- I checked ProQuest for the reporting on the Colombo meeting and found the following:

Five-Nation Conference Opens Today in Ceylon Washington Post; Apr 28, 1954; pg. 5 COLOMBO, Ceylon, April 27 (Reuters)--Indian Premier Jawaharlal Nehru arrived here tonight for a five-nation Asian conference at which his "third force" plan for peace in Indochina is virtually certain to be debated.

No sign of "third world" in any of the articles. But the term "third force" is an interesting precursor, predating Alfred Sauvy's 1951-52 usage of "trois mondes/tiers monde". OED has:

third force, Third Force (after Fr. Troisième Force), a political party or parties standing between two extreme or opposing parties (formerly, esp. between the French Gaullists and Communists); also loosely, any neutral power or third body

OED dates "Troisième Force" to 1933 and "Third Force" to 1936. After WWII, the moderate coalition of 1947 called itself "Troisième Force", and de Gaulle used "troisième force" or "troisième bloc" to refer to his plan for postwar Europe to balance the powers of U.S. and Russia. Nehru became associated with a similar "third force" concept by 1949-50 (and perhaps as early as the first Asian Relations Conference in 1947):

Ten Leaders of East Asia New York Times; May 21, 1950; pg. SM6 In foreign policy (Nehru's) present goal is to steer clear of both great power blocs and make India a neutral "third force" between Russia and the West-- a position which would be difficult to maintain if war comes.

But by 1953-54, Nehru (along with Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia) felt it necessary to disown the "third force/bloc" concept, since it ran counter to the spirit of non-alignment:

NEHRU OPPOSES BEVAN ON THIRD FORCE BLOC New York Times; Feb 17, 1953; pg. 12 Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru today urged the building up of a "third area of nations who wish to work for peace and do not want to align themselves with any bloc." He spoke in the Council of States (upper house of Parliament) shortly after listening to British Left-Wing Socialist Aneurin Bevan, on a three-week visit, informally address members of Parliament and call for the emergence of a "third bloc" to compel the United States and the Soviet Union to listen to weaker nations. The Indian Prime Ministers counseled, however, that "the idea of a third bloc or third force frightens or embarrasses people."

Text of the Nehru-Tito Joint Statement New York Times; Dec 24, 1954; pg. 2 The President and the Prime Minister therefore repudiate the erroneous conception which has become prevalent in some quarters of a "third bloc" or "third force" of non-aligned countries.

Perhaps Nehru and others came to prefer the term "third world" since it appeared more neutral than "third force" or "third bloc". But I still haven't seen any evidence of its use in English before 1958. The speeches given at the 1954 Colombo Conference and the 1955 Bandung Conference would be the obvious places to look (both conferences were conducted in English). Excerpts from the opening speeches given by Nehru and Sukarno at the Bandung Conference are available online, but neither use "third world" (or "third" anything else):

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1955nehru-bandung2.html http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1955sukarno-bandong.html

I'll try to check George Kahin's _The Asian-African Conference_ (Cornell Univ. Press, 1956) when I get the chance.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Jawaharlal Nehru, ((New) Delhi: Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, 1961).[/nq]
[nq:1]Yes, you mentioned this in a thread we had on the subject last year: Five-Nation Conference Opens Today in Ceylon Washington Post; Apr 28, 1954; pg. 5 No sign of "third world" in any of the articles.[/nq]
You will notice that the 's article is dated on the opening day of the meeting -- which does not, of course, cover Nehru's speech. I am afraid you need to see the text of the speech to find the term -- "Third World" rather than something else. -- Regards, Frank Young (Email Removed) 703-527-7684 Post Office Box 2793, Kensington, Maryland 20891 "Videmus nunc per speculum in aenigmate... Nunc cognosco ex parte"

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2] Yes, you mentioned this in a thread we had ... No sign of "third world" in any of the articles.[/nq]
[nq:1]You will notice that the 's article is dated on the opening day of the meeting -- which does not, ... you need to see the text of the speech to find the term -- "Third World" rather than something else.[/nq]
I cited that particular article because it associated Nehru with the phrase "third force", which (along with "third bloc") was mentioned frequently in the coverage of the Colombo Conference and the leadup to the following year's Bandung Conference. "Third world", on the other hand, is conspicuously absent. It's still possible that Nehru used "third world" at Colombo (US coverage was no doubt inordinately focused on the geopolitical implications of a new Cold War "bloc"). But if the phrase was indeed introduced in such a prominent forum, I'm surprised that a direct quote from Nehru hasn't turned up yet.

"Third world country"

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions