Is there a second world country?

Question

We hear about countries being "third world" and we have countries like US, Japan, etc as "first world," but I never hear the term "second world." Seems like it gotta exist. So does it?

Answer 1

Look at the referenced article in Wikipedia. It would classify "second world" as "medium human development", and would include Russia, Brazil, China, much of southeast Asia, and northern Africa.

Answer 2

When people talk about the poorest countries of the world, they often refer to them with the general term Third World, and they think everybody knows what they are talking about. But when you ask them if there is a Third World, what about a Second or a First World, you almost always get an evasive answer. Other people even try to use the terms as a ranking scheme for the state of development of countries, with the First world on top, followed by the Second world and so on, that's perfect - nonsense.

To close the gap of information you will find here explanations of the terms.

The use of the terms First, the Second, and the Third World is a rough, and it's safe to say, outdated model of the geopolitical world from the time of the cold war.There is no official definition of the first, second, and the third world.

The term "First World" refers to so called developed, capitalist, industrial countries, roughly, a bloc of countries aligned with the United States after word war II, with more or less common political and economic interests: North America, Western Europe, Japan and Australia.

"Second World" refers to the former communist-socialist, industrial states, (formerly the Eastern bloc, the territory and sphere of influence of the Union of Soviet Socialists Republic) today: Russia, Eastern Europe (e.g., Poland) and some of the Turk States (e.g., Kazakhstan) as well as China.

"Third World" are all the other countries, today often used to roughly describe the developing countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. The term Third World includes as well capitalist (e.g., Venezuela) and communist (e.g., North Korea) countries as very rich (e.g., Saudi Arabia) and very poor (e.g., Mali) countries.

The term "Fourth World" first came into use in 1974 with the publication of Shuswap Chief George Manuel's: The fourth world : an Indian reality (amazon link to the book), the term refers to nations (cultural entities, ethnic groups) of indigenous peoples living within or across state boundaries (nation states).

Answer 3

The term "Second World" is a phrase that was used to describe the Communist countries within the Soviet Union's sphere of influence. Along with "First World" and "Third World", the term has been used to divide the nations of Earth into three broad categories. The term has largely fallen out of use because the countries to which it referred mostly abandoned Communism, and their mutual interests, after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. The other two terms remain in widespread use.

Alternatively, First World countries may be defined as having developed market economies, Second World as having developed planned economies, and Third World as having developing economies that may follow either the market or the planned model. The fall of communism and the end of most planned economics has also made this distinction largely moot.

Yes there are "second world countires".
There were a number of countries which did not fit comfortably into this neat partitioning of the world, including Switzerland, Sweden, and the Republic of Ireland, who chose to remain neutral. Finland was under the Soviet Union's sphere of influence but was not communist, nor was it a member of the Warsaw Pact. Austria was within the United States' sphere of influence, but in 1955, when it became a fully independent republic, it did so under the condition that it remain neutral. Yugoslavia, a communist southeast European country, was a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement. Albania was a communist east European country which withdrew from the Warsaw Pact over ideological differences in 1968 and had stopped supporting the Pact as early as 1962.

Answer 4

Actually, nowadays, it is politically incorrect to call a country first- or third-world. They are only developed, or developing. Hence, South Africa and Sudan would both be under "developing" and countries like America would be "developed". In this way, it eliminates any talk of first-, second-, or third-world classifications.

Answer 5

Yes. second world countries are developing countries. Example: Indonesia, Argentina, Thailand

Third world countries are Somalia, Iraq, Sudan.

Answer 6

Actually, communist countries. Russia used to be second world, for example. China is now.

Answer 7

Yes at this time Russia and China but it is a very minor thing relatively the COLD WAR IS OVER or may be it restarted.

Answer 8

NOT RIGHT NOW BUT AS SOON AS MEXICO TAKES OVER IN THE NEXT 2-3 YRS THE GOOD OLE USA WILL BE---THEN WE WILL BE THE GOOD OOOLD USA OR THE HAS BEEN USA OR THE 2ND WORLD COUNTRY

Answer 9

The're called "Developing countries"

Answer 10

France and the rest of the socialist countries.

Just my best guess, anyway. Wink, wink.