Second World

The Second World was one of the "Three Worlds" during the Cold War, which described those countries aligned with the Soviet Union and allies in the Warsaw Pact and Eastern Bloc. This grouping was directly opposed to the First World, which grouped countries aligned with the United States and its allies in NATO and the Western Bloc.

The Second World included communist states that were originally under the Soviet sphere of influence, though some eventually broke away from the Soviet ideology (e.g., Yugoslavia's split and China's split) to develop their own path as socialist states while retaining their communist governments. Most communist states remained under Soviet influence until the Revolutions of 1989. In 1991, upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union, only five communist states remained: China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam. Though the terms "First World" and "Third World" continue to see present-day relevance in colloquial speech, albeit with a repurposed definition, the term "Second World" is obsolete outside of a Cold War context.

Origins

During the Cold War, the Three Worlds Model was used to rank the development of countries and their economies. First World countries were capitalist and industrial; they shared similar political and economic institutions, and retained influence over parts of the former colonial world. Second World countries generally advocated state socialism and shared certain characteristics such as centrally planned economic systems, single-party states, and medium income levels. The First World and the Second World were competing for political and economic influence over the Third World, which was neither aligned with the United States nor the Soviet Union in the Cold War.