Question

1. What are the common misconceptions about the Three Worlds theory (First, Second, and Third World)? Give examples and rectify these misconceptions.

Answer 1

In the field of International relations, the Three World's theory proposes three politico-economic world's, the First world consisting of superpowers, the Second World of developing powers, and the Third World of exploited nations. The First World comprises the US and the USSR, the superpower countries engaged in imperialism and in social-imperialism. The Second World comprises Japan and Canada, Europe and the countries of the global North-South divide. The Third World comprises of the countries of Africa, Latin America, and continental Asia. In 1974, the Vice -Premier of the PRC, Dang Xiapong, explained the Three Worlds Theory at the special session of the United Nations General Assembly on the problems of raw materials and development, about the PRC's cooperation with non-communist countries.

The Three World's Theory is a moist interpretation of international relations which is different from the Three- World Model, created by demographer Alfred Sauvy, wherein the First World comprises the US, Great Britain, and their allies, the Second World comprises the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China and their allies and the Third World comprises the economically underdeveloped countries and the countries of the Nonaligned Movement .

One's outlook is shaped with one's socio-cultural and political surroundings. The difference in the mentality of individuals, besides hereditary impact, is caused by the environment encircling the individuals. The same factor, as a result, is viewed differently by different people of different classes of different places.

People from First World countries therefore often fail to understand the problems of Third World countries rightly. Some of the misconceptions about the Three World's Theory can be cited as follows:-

(i) OVERPOPULATION PROBLEM - Common people of Scandinavian states view the problem in such a way like," Is overpopulation a problem ?' What is the overpopulation problem? Where is there over people? What is wrong with over people in those of Third World nations? We think more growth rate means more manpower for development which is a total misconception.

(ii) GENDER EQUALITY - A European cannot usually discern that rapid changes in gender roles in a conservative /semi-conservative society are more likely to destabilize the society than advancing it. In the name of women empowerment, a special honor, special privileges and special rights for women are unjustly preserved in many Third World countries and men, therefore, are being deprived of their due rights in these countries.

(iii) EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLING - Persons sitting on the chairs in the headquarter of Amnesty International might not understand why extrajudicial killing is sometimes essential in Third World countries. A Third World country as viewed by scholars is a suitable breeding house of terrorists, hooligans, and gangsters. These evil people sometimes go uncontrolled and unchecked as a result of long-time consequences of a corrupt administration and weak and interrupted judiciary.

At one stage, the government of an LDC finds no alternative to extrajudicial killing with the help of special forces to restore law and order system being too worst to be effective. In this stage, administration, regular law and order agencies and lengthy judicial procedure with a lot of loopholes become nearly useless to make a balance in an excessive volume of criminal activities nationwide. People from First World countries opine that extrajudicial killing is always hatefully unacceptable under any circumstances anywhere in the world which is a misconception too.