Third World Atlas

Alan Thomas, Ben Crow

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781000144338
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Historical Fiction
• Index: Literature

This book focuses on some of the Third World's common experiences, such as its historical linkages with the West, the challenge to provide basic needs, and the effects of competition in the global economy. It will be useful in bringing a spatial and statistical dimension to the study of development.

DEFINITIONS OF THIRD WORLD AND DEVELOPMENT

The term Third World originated after the Second World War as a political category implying ‘positive neutralism’ in the context of the Cold War. (For a historical view of the First World of Western capitalist nations, the then socialist states of the Second World, and the ‘non-aligned’ Third World, see p.47.) However, well before the collapse of Eastern European socialism and the Soviet Union, the main connotation of the term Third World had become ‘underdeveloped’ or simply ‘poor’. The term, in fact, covers a disparate group of countries, including both the newly industrializing countries of South-east Asia and the poorest countries of Africa.

Since the Second World War what has been understood by development has also changed, from an emphasis on economic growth to a view of development encompassing the whole of society and implying cultural and political as well as economic and technical change. The chart opposite presents a chronology of some important world events and some ideas which have shaped development thinking. Apart from attempting objectivity in defining war¹, what is included is necessarily arbitrary.

This section focuses in turn on six aspects of development which may be used separately or in combination to attempt to define the ‘Third World’:

Independence (pp.12–13). The map on p.13 doubles as a basic political reference map, showing states of the world at January 1993 on our equal-area projection. (Data shown on the other maps is generally for 1990 or earlier.)

GNP per Capita and World Bank Categories (pp.14–15) ranks economies on the basis of average income, and shows how the World Bank uses this and other economic factors to classify countries into groups.

Industrialization (pp.16–17) views development as a process of structural economic change from agriculture towards industry.

National and World Integration (pp.18–19) explores development as a process of modernization and internationalization in which Third World countries play a marginalized role.

Social Indicators of Development (pp.20–21) presents some measures of the fulfilment of basic human needs.

Human Development (pp.22–23) introduces the Human Development Index and discusses freedom and human rights.

INDEPENDENCE

Most Third World countries have in common their recent political independence and their previous colonial status. However, Latin American countries are often regarded as Third World’, although they mostly gained political independence in the early nineteenth century, before several European states, including Germany and Italy, existed in their modern form, and while others such as Greece and Bulgaria were still part of the Ottoman Empire.

Independence seems to be a precise term for recent ex-colonies celebrating a particular day on which there was a ‘transfer of power’. However, many territories went through a period of ‘internal self-government’ or as ‘dominions’ or ‘protectorates’, and the date on which full independence was gained is a matter of judgement.

An independent state is one which is recognized as such by other states, either directly or through membership of international agencies. The United Nations (UN) was formed at the end of the Second World War and is meant to be a forum for all the nation-states of the world. UN membership has grown from 51 in 1945 to 178 in 1992. Two non-members of the UN are generally recognized as sovereign states: Switzerland never became a member; Taiwan was excluded in 1971 when the People’s Republic of China became a member, with the latter claiming the former as an integral part of its territory. (North and South Korea became members only in 1991.)

A few parts of the world still have not attained independence, including some very small islands and military bases. Among others, Hong Kong remains a British colony until 1997; Greenland is a Danish dependency; Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana are French; Puerto Rico is a ‘freely associated state’ with the USA.

There are also cases of international disagreement over the status of particular territories. East Timor is a potentially independent territory occupied by Indonesia. Some commentators might regard Northern Ireland, or many other areas, as dependent or occupied territories. In Western Sahara, occupying Morocco has supposedly agreed to independent elections, and a new independent state may be formed. This Atlas makes no judgements on unresolved territorial disputes such as these, or that over Kashmir, and bases political boundaries shown on those of The Times Atlas of the World.

The 1990s seem likely to give rise to several new states. The diagram below is for 1990; the map opposite shows states ofthe world in 1993. By this time the republics of the ex-USSR had become independent and the Czech and Slovak Republics had split. For the future, Eritrea is reported to be becoming independent of Ethiopia. Several of the republics of Yugoslavia are separately declaring independence, but are not shown on the maps because of the confused situation. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is a full member of the Non-aligned Movement, which shows that many recognize Palestine as a sovereign state. In South Africa, because ‘independence’ was originally ceded to a white minority, the struggle against the white regime can be seen not just as a question of human rights within a sovereign state, but as an independence struggle analogous to anti-colonial national liberation movements elsewhere.

Chart shows periods of independence since 1800 for states that were (a) independent in 1990, and _(b) had population over one million in 1990.

The independence date shown is not a beginning: ancient nations (e.g. Poland, Egypt) may appear ‘new’ because for a long period before or after 1800 they were part of larger empires; or today’s boundaries may split countries (e.g. Panama/Colombia) or unite previous political units (e.g. Nigeria).

GNP PER CAPITA AND WORLD BANK CATEGORIES

The most common method of attempting to rank countries according to economic well-being is to use gross national product (GNP) per capita as a measure of average income. The World Bank in its annual World Development Report and World Development Indicators classifies the countries of the world into three main income groups for ‘operational and analytical purposes’. In the World Development Report 1990 the main categories are:

1 Low-income economies: GNP per capita US$545 or less in 1988. China and India, with about two-fifths of the world’s population between them, fall into this category.

2 Middle-inco...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• 1 Definitions of Third World and Development
• 2 The Making of the Third World
• 3 Issues and Challengesin Contemporary Development
• Reference tables
• Notes
• Sources