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by yankabilly on December 14th, 2005

yankabilly

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What would be a "second world country"?

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  • by Anon on December 20th, 2005

    Anon

    According the American Heritage Dictionary:

    "Second World also second world
    Noun:
    During the Cold War, the Communist nations of the world."

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  • by beenaroundtheblock on February 10th, 2007

    beenaroundtheblock

    Those terms have also referred to the level of a country's development, not just their political leanings. According to the scale I learned, maybe some where like Venesuela or Belize.

    I don't remember the jargon exactly, but first world were those doing well and comfortable, public education, accessible health care and other such criteria. - second were those heading toward that. - Third were those frozen in crap, not developing (Ethiopia was a prime example when I was in school) and fourth were those that were actually "undeveloping", whatever systems they had falling apart, like maybe Rwanda.

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  • by Halskiisaklink on January 2nd, 2007

    Halskiisaklink

    These are all dated terms now, but during the Cold War a 'first-world' country was a money-grabbing conservative capitalist nation where people were free (but not free from lynchings or McCarthyism). A second-world nation was a socialist (or as many have slightly incorrectly called them, communist) nation, where life wasn't that great either. A 'third-world' nation was a country that wasn't tempted to either side of the Cold War (this was seen as undesirable by the US, i.e. "You're either with us or against us").

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  • by Naztec on March 11th, 2009

    Naztec

    "second world countries" is a phrase that was used (during the cold war) to describe the Communist states within the Soviet Union's sphere of influence or those countries that had centrally-planned economies. Today, "second world countries" usually are the communist nations (Cuba not being one any longer) and former Soviet states. Some nations could be referred as "second world" because of their GDP, HDI, etc. but sometimes are not because of high unemployment and poverty which bring the numbers down (Brazil would be an example).

    And many countries that you see listed here are not considered "second world countries" such as Argentina, Mexico etc. in fact all of the continent of America (North and South America) except for Canada and the U.S are considered "third world countries". But sometimes there is a big difference of "third world countries" which is why some people wanted to add "fourth world countries" (which officially doesn't exist) and the countries would usually be African states/nations.
    ***Many people today do not agree with any of the terms.***

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  • by ProgDev on line on April 13th, 2007

    ProgDev on line

    The term "second world country" has not been used since the Cold War ended. It used to be that the "First World" countries were generally "free-market" countries with relatively high levels of technology and hig GDP per capita. These countries, at the time, drove the world economy. "Second World" referred to the Soviet Union and the "Eastern Bloc", which no longer exists in the same trade framework. At the time these terms were used, the "Eastern Bloc" did not participate in the economy outside itself. The "Third World" included countries that did not have technologies or economies that allowed trade with anyone outside themselves. They were generally in need of outside aid in some cases just to provide for internal needs.

    Now people use term such as "Least Developed Countries", "Developing Countries", and Developed Countries. The World Bank uses "Upper Income", "Middle Income", and "Lower Income", with subdivisions within each category. The term "Third World" hangs on, because whiel the relationships and status of the "First" and "Second" World countries have changed dramatically, many "Third World" countries are exactly where they were, or even worse off, than they were during the Cold War.

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  • by migarce on March 30th, 2007

    migarce

    It could be the union of less developed countries of every continent.

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  • by WHITE BEAR on February 10th, 2007

    WHITE BEAR

    A country not top of the league in terms of GDP but yet not in total poverty. Somewhere like Argentina or Mexico.

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