processes that were arrested in the past, are discouraging and uncertain
at present, and are likely to be unprecedented in the future (Muni, 1979,
p. 128). Even if Third Worldism only means building regional alliances to
present a united front economically, that in itself is important.
It has also been pointed out that to reject the concept because it treats the
Third World as an undifferentiated mass ignores the psychological and
political connotations of Third Worldism in favour of an interpretation that
‘denotes an association of countries dedicated to the moral blackmail of
a guilt-afflicted West’ (Toye, 1987, p. 6).
But most importantly, many of the problems which characterized the
group of countries originally labelled the Third World by Western analysts,
and which prompted solidaristic action by Third World leaders, persist. The
countries conventionally categorized as part of the Third World do not all
rank the same in terms of the indicators of Third World status used here. But
all confront some of the problems associated with Third World status, and
most of the 50 low-income countries experience them all. So while Brazil,
an upper-middle income country, has a GNP per capita of $4,420, life
expectancy is lower than Vietnam’s with a GNP per capita of $370.
Tanzania, a low-income economy, has a higher ratio of trade to GNP than
upper middle-income Mexico. Manufactured goods account for only 10 per
cent of middle-income Ecuador’s exports of merchandise, compared with
84 per cent of low-income Pakistan’s. Diamonds may contribute 80 per cent
of Botswana’s foreign exchange earnings, 50 per cent of government
income and 33 per cent of GDP. Yet dependence on this single commodity
has transformed the country from one of the poorest in the world to one of
the richest in Africa. However, life expectancy is 40 years, mainly due to a
high incidence of HIV infection, and attempts to diversify industry have fal-
tered. Infant mortality is high in most low-income countries, but so it is in
upper middle-income Gabon. Almost as large a proportion of Bangladesh’s
population has access to safe water as Uruguay, though the latter has a per
capita GNP 16 times greater.
Subsequent chapters will consider the political importance of such char-
acteristics as poverty and inequality, dependence on foreign investment for
economic development, industrialization and urbanization as aspects of
modernization, and progress in the protection of human rights and free-
doms. The dependency which has featured in much of the discussion about
the nature of the Third World has also been central to interpretations of the
changes which are taking place there. In one sense the expression ‘Third
World’ represents a challenge to ‘development’ as autonomous growth and
progress. The controversies within the social sciences about development,
20 Understanding Third World Politics