Three worlds

[Carol Anne]

Which countries would be described as the 'second world'?

[jno]

the former communist countries - Russia, China, eastern Europe. But the term was never much used. See here for one explanation

[Octavius]

The term Second World has largely fallen out of use because the circumstances to which it referred largely ended with the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

In the 1950's it became common practice (though not in the UK) to refer to nations within the Soviet Union's sphere of influence (e.g. the Warsaw Pact countries) as the Second World. Besides the Soviet Union proper, most of Eastern Europe was run by satellite governments working closely with Moscow. The term "Second world" may or may not also refer to Communist countries whose leadership were at odds with Moscow, e.g. China and Yugoslavia.

There were a number of countries which did not fit comfortably into this neat definition of partition, including Switzerland, Sweden, and the Republic of Ireland, who chose to be 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 under the United States' sphere of influence, but in 1955, when the country became a fully independent republic, it did so under the condition that it remained neutral. Yugoslavia, a communist east 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.

In recent years, as many "developing" countries have industrialized, the term Fourth World has been coined to refer to countries that have lagged behind and still lack industrial infrastructure.

[Carol Anne]

Hi Octavius,

Thanks for that, it's really interesting. Do you know how or why Yugoslavia and this non aligned movement (could you elaborate on that at all?) and Albania were tolorated by the soviets? especially as they crushed uprisings elsewhere?

[Octavius]

The Non-Aligned Movement, or NAM, is an international organization of over 100 states which consider themselves not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. NAM focuses on national struggles for independence, the eradication of poverty, economic development and opposing colonialism, imperialism, and neo-colonialism. They represent 55 per cent of the planet's people and nearly two-thirds of the UN's membership. The world's "non-aligned" nations declared their desire not to become involved in the East�West ideological confrontation of the Cold War.

While the organization was intended to be as close an alliance as NATO or the Warsaw Pact, it has little cohesion and many of its members were induced to or unable to resist aligning with one or another of the great powers. For example, Cuba was closely aligned with the former Soviet Union during the Cold War era. The NAM has struggled to find relevance since the end of the Cold War.

Albania was used as a kind of a ear in Europe. Radio Tirana not only supported communist politics, but was responsible for the monitoring of radio relations of the neighboring states. Also their reconnaissance of submarine movement in the North and the Mediterranean area are known.

From 1945 until 1990 Albania had one of the most repressive governments in Europe. The communist party was created in 1941 with the direction of Bolshevik Communist Parties. All those who opposed it were eliminated. Enver Hoxha became the leader of this party. For many decades of his domination, Hoxha created and destroyed relationships with Belgrade, Moscow, and China, always in his personal interests. The country was isolated, first from the West (Western Europe, North America and Australasia) and later even from the communist East.

[Carol Anne]

Thank-you Octavius

[jno]

I've never been quite certain, but I suspect the Soviet Union was less concerned about Yugoslavia and Albania because they weren't physically buffer states between themselves and western Europe, the way Hungary and Czechoslovakia were (Moscow invaded both these latter countries when they looked like relaxing communist orthodoxy). Ultimately, they had a point: the end of the iron curtain came when Hungary decided it would no longer stop its citizens holidaying in Austria.