{{Short description|Political alignments of states during the Cold War}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}} [[File:Europe-blocs-49-89x4.svg|thumb|250px|right|Political alignments in Europe during the Cold War after 1961]] {{Eastern Bloc sidebar|SSRs}} {{Western Bloc sidebar|Allies of the United States}}
The '''three-world model''' is a lens of political analysis describing the world during the Cold War. The model divides the world's nations into three groups: the First, Second, and Third Worlds.
== History ==
=== Background === The terms ''First World'', ''Second World'', and ''Third World'' were originally used to divide the world's nations into three categories. The complete overthrow of the pre–World War II status quo left two superpowers (the United States and the Soviet Union) vying for ultimate global supremacy, a struggle known as the Cold War. They each created their own political blocs. These blocs formed the basis of the concepts of the First and Second Worlds.<ref>{{cite book |last1= Gaddis |first1= John |title= We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History |year= 1998 |publisher= Oxford University Press |location= Oxford |isbn= 0-19-878071-0 |pages= 1–2}}</ref> The Third World consisted of those countries that were not closely aligned with either bloc.
=== Cold War === Early in the Cold War era, NATO and the Warsaw Pact were created by the United States and the Soviet Union, respectively. They were also referred to as the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The circumstances of these two blocs were so different that they were essentially two worlds, however, they were not numbered first and second.<ref name="p. 21">{{cite book |last1=Melkote |first1=Srinivas R. |last2=Steeves |first2=H. Leslie |title=Communication for development in the Third World: theory and practice for empowerment |year=2001 |publisher=Sage Publications |isbn=0-7619-9476-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PKAi6t2e5AEC&q=Alfred+Sauvy+third+World&pg=PA21 |page=21 |access-date=5 December 2020 |archive-date=16 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216080121/https://books.google.com/books?id=PKAi6t2e5AEC&q=Alfred+Sauvy+third+World&pg=PA21 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Provizer |first=Norman W. |title=Analyzing the Third World: essays from Comparative politics |year=1978 |publisher=Transaction Publishers |isbn=0-87073-943-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=05UboWXy6XQC&q=First+World+Third+World&pg=PA3 |page=3 |access-date=5 December 2020 |archive-date=16 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216080121/https://books.google.com/books?id=05UboWXy6XQC&q=First+World+Third+World&pg=PA3#v=snippet&q=First%20World%20Third%20World&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=leonard1542-3>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Third World |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the Developing World |last=Leonard |first=Thomas M. |year=2006 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |volume=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=08OV704armMC&q=Alfred+Sauvy+third+World&pg=PA1542 |isbn=0-87073-943-3 |access-date=2009-11-01 |pages=1542–3 |archive-date=16 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216080121/https://books.google.com/books?id=08OV704armMC&q=Alfred+Sauvy+third+World&pg=PA1542#v=snippet&q=Alfred%20Sauvy%20third%20World&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> The onset of the Cold War is marked by Winston Churchill's famous "Iron Curtain" speech.<ref name=iron>{{Cite web | title = Winston Churchill "Iron Curtain" | publisher = The History Place | url = http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/ironcurtain.htm | access-date = 2018-01-11 | archive-date = 8 May 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150508030756/http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/ironcurtain.htm | url-status = live }}</ref> In this speech, Churchill describes the division of the West and East to be so solid that it could be called an iron curtain.<ref name=iron/>
In 1952, the French demographer Alfred Sauvy coined the term Third World in reference to the three estates in pre-revolutionary France.<ref name=model>{{Cite web | title = Three Worlds Model | publisher = University of Wisconsin Eau Claire | url = http://www.uwec.edu/geography/Ivogeler/w111/3world.htm | access-date = 2018-01-11 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150512232252/http://people.uwec.edu/ivogeler/w111/3world.htm | archive-date = 12 May 2015}}</ref> The first two estates being the nobility and clergy and everybody else comprising the third estate.<ref name=model/> He compared the capitalist world (i.e., First World) to the nobility and the communist world (i.e., Second World) to the clergy. The First World countries were characterized by economic prosperity, technological advancement, and political stability, whereas the Second World countries were characterized by state-controlled economies and centralized political structures. Just as the third estate comprised everybody else, Sauvy called the Third World all the countries that were not in this Cold War division, i.e., the unaligned and uninvolved states in the "East–West Conflict."<ref name=model/><ref name=leonard1542-3 /> The Third World countries are often described as developing nations with diverse economic, social, and political conditions. With the coining of the term Third World directly, the first two groups came to be known as the "First World" and "Second World," respectively. Here the three-world system emerged.<ref name=leonard1542-3 />
===Post Cold War=== With the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Eastern Bloc ceased to exist; with it, so did all applicability of the Three-world model.<ref>{{Cite web | title = Fall of the Soviet Union | publisher = The Cold War Museum | year = 2008 | url = http://www.coldwar.org/articles/90s/fall_of_the_soviet_union.asp | access-date = 2009-11-01 | archive-date = 24 July 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170724220159/http://coldwar.org/articles/90s/fall_of_the_soviet_union.asp | url-status = dead }}</ref>
==See also== {{portal| history | modern history | politics | geography }} {{div col|colwidth=20em}} * First World * Second World * Third World * Fourth World * Eastern world * Western world * Developed country * Developing country * Digital divide * Global North and Global South * Globalization * Great Divergence * List of countries by total private wealth * List of countries by wealth per adult * Multinational corporation * Three Worlds Theory, Maoist political concept {{end div col}}
== References == {{reflist}}
{{Global economic classifications}}
Category:Country classifications Category:Politics by region Category:World systems theory Category:Cold War terminology