Global InformationThree Worlds Theory information
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The Three Worlds Theory (simplified Chinese: 三个世界的理论; traditional Chinese: 三個世界的理論; pinyin: Sān gè Shìjiè de Lǐlùn), in the field of international relations, posits that the international system during the Cold War operated as three contradictory politico-economic worlds. It was first formulated by Mao Zedong in a conversation with Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda in February 1974. On April 10, 1974, at the 6th Special Session United Nations General Assembly, Vice-Premier Deng Xiaoping applied the Three Worlds Theory during the New International Economic Order presentations about the problems of raw materials and development, to explain the PRC's economic co-operation with non-communist countries.[1]
The First World comprises the United States and the Soviet Union, the superpower countries. The Second World comprises Japan, Canada, Europe and the other countries of the global North. The Third World comprises China, India, the countries of Africa, Latin America, and continental Asia.[2]
As political science, the Three Worlds Theory is a Maoist interpretation and geopolitical reformulation of international relations, which is different from the Three-World Model, created by the demographer Alfred Sauvy in which the First World comprises the United States, the United Kingdom, 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, including the 120 countries of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).[3]
- ^ "Excerpts From Chinese Address to U.N. Session on Raw Materials". The New York Times. 1974-04-12. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2023-06-30.
- ^ Gillespie, Sandra (2004). "Diplomacy on a South-South Dimension". In Slavik, Hannah (ed.). Intercultural Communication and Diplomacy. Diplo Foundation. p. 123. Archived from the original on 2023-06-30. Retrieved 2023-06-30.
- ^ Evans, Graham; Newnham, Jeffrey (1998). The Penguin Dictionary of International Relations. Penguin Books. pp. 314–315. ISBN 978-0-14-051397-4.