Expert: Doug Farmwald - 2/22/2001

Question
I understand that countries like the United States, Britan and Germany are 1st world nations, and that Angola, Zaire and Somalia are 3d world nations. What is a 2d world nation? Please give a few examples.
Thank you for your time

Answer
Hi Don,

The term "2nd World" never really caught on but it derives from the cold division of the world into communist and non-communist camps.  The 1st world refers to the industrialized west.  The 2nd world refers to the Communist bloc (which was always the preferred term)  The former Soviet Union and Warsaw pact nations would be good examples.  The third world refers to the poor, non-aligned nations.  

As there is no longer a communist bloc, I suppose there is arguably no longer a 2nd world either.  Of course, it is important to remember that labels such as these are no more than a shorthand way categorizing political leanings.  None of the three groups are all inclusive nor is there always agreement on precisely which nations recive which label (e.g. China rather straddled the fence between 2nd and 3rd world status for most of the previous fifty years.)

I hope this helps.  If there is any more information I can provide for you, please feel free to e-mail me.

Doug Farmwald
Satyricus@aol.com