Is Mexico a third world country?

[Tee Kay]

I dislike the term "Third World" country. It's too generalised. I prefer to divide countries by economic development using these categories: Developed (read: industrialised), Semi-developed, developing and under developed.

Each country classified roughly based on GDP per capita, GDP nominal and overall living standards.

1) Mexico = semi-developed
2) Iran = developing
3) China = semi-developed
4) Venezuela = semi-developed
5) South Africa = semi-developed
6) Cuba = developing
7) Vietnam = developing
8) Turkey = developed

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

]

first i dont agree with him saying that all commies are considered "second world"

however if that is so i dont think that "2nd world" should only be exclusive to commies

That's too bad, because it's not an opinionanted thing, the Second World IS the Communist world.

 

[Tank_Guy#3]

Well the term "Third World" refers to the Cold War world.

First World - US, Western Europe, Austalia, basically the capitalist, modern, inustrialized nations

Second World - Communist World, ie USSR, China, NK, Vietnam, Warsaw Pact

Third World - The underdeveloped, unaffiliated nations, like the Indian Subcontinent, most of Africa, South America, and Indochina

So Mexico would be considered First World I suppose, seeing as it was one of the Allies in WWII, and really wasn't THAT far behind at the beginning of the Cold War.
Today, I would consider it a developing nation, not unlike the rest of Latin America, the Subcontinent, or Africa.

Personally I divide it into First, Second, and Third world based on a variety of factors, but to make things simple, lets just say it's based strictly on economy. That's how I would break it down in the most bland of terms.

 

[sonorakitch]

I dislike the term "Third World" country. It's too generalised. I prefer to divide countries by economic development using these categories: Developed (read: industrialised), Semi-developed, developing and under developed.

Each country classified roughly based on GDP per capita, GDP nominal and overall living standards.

1) Mexico = semi-developed
2) Iran = developing
3) China = semi-developed
4) Venezuela = semi-developed
5) South Africa = semi-developed
6) Cuba = developing
7) Vietnam = developing
8) Turkey = developed

I think you are offering your opinion to this list, rather than fact is it first appears. In actuality, all countries you mention are considered developing with S. Africa and Turkey the only real contenders for developed status in the upcoming decade.

~Chris

 

[Masquerouge]

I thought I might explain where the term "Third World" comes from. It has been coined by a French guy, Alfred Sauvy. It is a direct reference to French history, when French society used to be divided in three "Etats" or estates, the first one being the aristocracy, the second one the clergy, and the third one everybody else. The "Tiers-Etat", or third-estate, was caracterized by poverty and complete lack of political power, but was also the biggest state in terms of population.
Alfred Sauvy, in 1952, used that reference to group what was at that time a huge number of countries enjoying neither riches nor political power, because they did not belong to either the West (US and Europe) or the East (USSR and its satellites)

It was only once the term Third World was widely used that the terms First and Second World were used to refer to West and East, mainly because the French reference was not significant for anybody but the French

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_World

EDIT: actually the article on Sauvy explains it much better: "Alfred Sauvy (1898-1990) was a demographer, anthropologist and historian of the French economy. Sauvy coined the term Third World (Tiers Monde) in reference to the underdeveloped countries in an article published in the French magazine L'Observateur on August 14, 1952. At the end of the article Sauvy said:

"...car enfin, ce Tiers Monde ignoré, exploité, méprisé comme le Tiers Etat, veut lui aussi, être quelque chose"

"...because at the end this ignored, exploited, scorned Third World like the Third Estate, wants to become something too".

In using the expression Third World here he was paraphrasing Sieyès's famous sentence about the Third Estate during the French Revolution. Sauvy assimilated then the capitalist First world to the nobility and the communist Second World to the clergy."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Sauvy

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

It seems a lot of our terms today come from that period of French History; as I recall, Left and Right on the political scale refers to the seating arrangement of the Estates-General, does it not? With the Monarchists (traditionalists) sitting on the right side, and the Liberals (the revolutionaries) sitting on the Left side of the room.

 

[Warman17]

Third-world is an obsolete Cold War term.

There is no longer any such thing as a third world country.

sure there is.

1st world = industrialized nations such as europe and america

2nd world = newly industrializing nations such as south korea

3rd world = developing nations such as colombia

4th world = crapholes like somalia

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

sure there is.

1st world = industrialized nations such as europe and america

2nd world = newly industrializing nations such as south korea

3rd world = developing nations such as colombia

4th world = crapholes like somalia

Wow, point totally missed, pal. Read the thread next time.

 

[boarder]

Ill be able to tell you in a month

 

[Phlegmak]

Hey, shouldn't Israel be added to the list of frequently cited Western nations, such as Japan and the US?

 

[Masquerouge]

It seems a lot of our terms today come from that period of French History; as I recall, Left and Right on the political scale refers to the seating arrangement of the Estates-General, does it not? With the Monarchists (traditionalists) sitting on the right side, and the Liberals (the revolutionaries) sitting on the Left side of the room.

I seem to recall that as well
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_left

 

[MSTK]

People don't understand what the "worlds" system was actually intended to convey (the Cold War factions, and suchforth). The actual definition of a First World Country was as Cheesy stated. The actual definition of Second World refers to communist nations. Third world countries are neither. That is fact, and the official definition.

However since the Cold War ended, people have been assigning these labels in a different meaning and context (ie, Third World being poor and underdeveloped countries). It must be noted that this usage is not how the terms were intended to be used in the first place.

 

[ybbor]

]

first i dont agree with him saying that all commies are considered "second world"

however if that is so i dont think that "2nd world" should only be exclusive to commies

wow, What would you say if I told you that stop signs are actually blue?

 

[deo]

Today for me

1. 1st World = Developed Countries
2. 2nd World = Developing Countries
3. 3rd World = Poor Countries

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Today for me

1. 1st World = Developed Countries
2. 2nd World = Developing Countries
3. 3rd World = Poor Countries

Why is this so hard for you people to understand?!

It is not a subjective thing. The "Worlds" are specifically defined as certain things. I'll say them... again... for you.


First World:

Capitalist, Developed Nations. Also known as the Allies, but places like Sweden and Switzerland fit in too.

Second World:

Communist Countries. USSR, China, North Korea, North Vietnam, Yugoslavia, etc etc.

Third World:

Everyone NOT in the first and Second Worlds. That leaves what are known today as "developing nations" like India, most of Africa and South America, Indochina, and Central America.

 

[bhsup]

CHeezy, you have to bow before changing definitions.

Rubbers: condoms or rubber galoshes you put on when it is snowing outside?
Gay: homosexual or happy?
Joint: whacky weed delivery device or a tavern or a prison?

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

CHeezy, you have to bow before changing definitions.

Rubbers: condoms or rubber galoshes you put on when it is snowing outside?
Gay: homosexual or happy?
Joint: whacky weed delivery device or a tavern or a prison?

No, I don't, you people are just using it wrong and can't get over it. Besides, all the words you cited as examples are slang.

First of all, all three terms concerning the worlds are out of date, as of the fall of the Soviet Union. Now, what we would have called the "Third World" are known as developing nations, plus certain Second World Nations. The Developed World would be the First World plus some Second World Nations, and now some originally Third World Nations, like India, are bridging the gap to becoming Devloped Nations.

To use the terms First, Second, or Third World is to refer to the time that they were used and applicable, i.e. the Cold War Era. Now that the Cold War is over, we don't use them to describe anything present day. That would be like me calling the rear of a battleship the "Fortress," of which it obvioussly no longer is, on the argument that is was once.

 

[Phlegmak]

Cheez Whiz is correct; "third world" is meaningless.

 

[emzie]

S. Africa and Turkey the only real contenders for developed status in the upcoming decade.

Assuming you're white in South Africa. I would consider it underdevoped for the majority of the population

 

[deo]

Why is this so hard for you people to understand?!

It is not a subjective thing. The "Worlds" are specifically defined as certain things. I'll say them... again... for you.


First World:

Capitalist, Developed Nations. Also known as the Allies, but places like Sweden and Switzerland fit in too.

Second World:

Communist Countries. USSR, China, North Korea, North Vietnam, Yugoslavia, etc etc.

Third World:

Everyone NOT in the first and Second Worlds. That leaves what are known today as "developing nations" like India, most of Africa and South America, Indochina, and Central America.

Hard to understand? Man Comunism is gone, this cant be applied anymore but that was just my opinion in how I divide the world. I dont care how it was.