User:Xibaowang/Third World

The End of the Third World
The term "Third World" is outdated and archaic, which its concept is mostly a historical term and cannot fully address what means by developing and less-developed countries today. Around the early 1960s, the term "underdeveloped countries" occurred and the Third World serves to be its synonym, but after it has been officially used by politicians, 'underdeveloped countries' is soon been replaced by 'developing' and 'less-developed countries,' because the prior one shows hostility and disrespect, in which the Third World is often characterized with stereotypes. The whole 'Four Worlds' system of classification has also been described as derogatory because the standard mainly focused on each nations' Gross National Product. While the Cold War Period ends and many sovereign states start to form, the term Third World becomes less usable.

The planet is far more plural than what it is used to be and the Third World can no longer be used to symbolize current political or economic state. The general definition of the Third World can be traced back to the history that nations positioned as neutral and independent during the Cold War were considered as Third World Countries, and normally these countries are defined by high poverty rates, lack of resources, and unstable financial standing. However, based on the rapid development of modernization and globalization, countries that were used to be considered as Third World countries achieve big economic growth, such as Brazil, India, and Indonesia, which can no longer be defined by poor economic status or low GNP today. The differences among nations of the Third World are continually growing throughout time, and it will be hard to use the Third World to define and organize groups of nations based on their common political arrangements since most countries live under diverse creeds in this era, such as Mexico, El Salvador, and Singapore, which they all have their own political system. The Third World categorization becomes anachronistic since its political classification and economic system are distinct to be applied in today's society. Based on the Third World standards, any region of the world can be categorized into any of the four types of relationships among state and society, and will eventually end in four outcomes: praetorianism, multi-authority, quasi-democratic and viable democracy. However, political culture is never going to be limited by the rule and the concept of the Third World can be circumscribed.

The Third World is often broadly connected to colonialism and poverty, but through decolonization and evolution in transport and communications, the World is shrinking and each nation forms a strong interlinkage with each other so that the 'Four Worlds' system is left behind and the world is more likely to be considered as a united one. Moreover, the Four Worlds' categorization also reinforces competition snd superiority among nations. The Third World is a controversial topic, and it is no longer be used very often although there are still many countries that share similar developmental experiences. It has been replaced by developing countries and less-developed countries, which they do not have obvious negative implications as the Third World.