Where is the 2nd world?

[AzureWolf]

Originally posted by caleb: New zealand the native tongue of the predominate race is BAAAA BAAAA.

FOOL WE WILL TAKE UP A HOLY CRUSADE AGAINST YOU NOW!!!

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"I was born of darkness. My fathers eyes closed before mine opened. I am not of this world or the other, and I have the right to be what I am..."

"I've put my trust in you, pushed as far as I can go. For all this theres only one thing you should know....."

[Bahamut]

i think they base it on economic progress or something... we are called a 'third world' country.. or maybe colonization?

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You know what happened. We are ONE, WE ARE, ahh.. er... I AM 'S favorite pet pea-cock...teehee and... Stay ahead of the Avalanche or risk being buried...

[Moridin]

If I remember correctly the 'definitions' for 1st, 2nd, 3rd world are:

1st world: Fully industrialized and technologically advanced, privatized industry, independent and stable currency
2nd world: Making the transition between state owned and privatization. Therefore most of the Eastern European countries are catagorized here. Also most of these countries have an independent currency, but it is 'pegged' to an outside currency (i.e. dollar or pound)
3rd world: Very little or no industry (i.e. agriculture based), a currency that is worthless or nonexistant (an outside currency is used or a barter system is used, a chicken for a bag of rice )

These are 'rough' definitions but they should help


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Ever wonder if illiterate people get the full effect from alphabet soup?

[antonius]

I thought the emphasis was more on the industrial bias (primary/secondary/tertiary) than anything else, but I suppose, ultimately, it's a subjective term based loosely on all the factors mentioned

[Billikins the Bold]

Now, this is going back some years as I graduated with a degree in International Relations in 1990 but...

IIRC, the term Third World was coined by a french chap (Les Tiers Monde if my french is still up to it) in the post war period. I'm not sure that he explicitly defined a First and Second world, though I'm sure the implicit definitions are as above.

There was always some problems defining these zones though due to anomalies such as Saudi Arabia, As Memnoch has already said the term LDC (Less Developed Countries) was used for a while, as was UDC (Under Developed Countries) but these things tend to be fairly fashionable. In fact, I think I've heard the term Fourth World used with regards to SE Asian "tiger" economies in the 1980s.

Apologies for my crap memory.

btw, Yugoslavia was one Eastern European country that wasn't in the Warsaw pact due to a fall out between Stalin and Tito. Hence they developed a system where the main army was mostly cadre with the bulk of fighting forces being local militias trained and equiped (with locally stored weapons) for guerilla warfare, in case the Warsaw pact did invade. Does anyone see the potentail pitfalls in this arrangement?

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Fear? I know not the meaning of the word. And you can keep that dictionary away from me!

[Charean]

Thank you Moridin for refreshing my memory... I used to know that when I was in college... but sadly, it has been a while. And thank you also, Billikins the Bold, for pointing out things that I had skimmed over in class, i.e. the origins of the term and such. Ah such dry facts that now seem a little more pertinent.

Funny how they term the 1st - 3rd worlds in terms of economics... I think were we to look at social advancement, the countries would fall in a much different order.

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Defender for the Light -
Goodness knows there is a lot of Dark out there!! - Where are my matches?!?
Wandering Soul - Finding my life's calling is Bodhisattva
Looking for lost brain - I left it only for a moment....and there it goes... rolling under the table!!
Noticing that the Light has gotten further down a Dark Tunnel than expected... Time to get the Lantern... Knowing sooner or later - I will get to the End of this Tunnel to the Open Air once again...