some experts to threaten the very survival of the political system as a plu-
ralist democracy (Chiriyankandath, 1994, p. 32). To a considerable extent
such movements reflect disillusionment with political and economic devel-
opments which leave large sections of the population marginalized both
materially and politically as power is accumulated in the hands of new rul-
ing classes. Religious fundamentalism provides an ideological focus which
asserts the relevance of forms of traditionalism to the modern world.
The experience of the Third World with democratization has been mixed.
By the end of the last century democracy and freedom were the dominant
trends in Latin America and the Asia Pacific region. In Africa by contrast,
a minority of countries had free societies and electoral democracy. No coun-
tries in the Arab world were rated ‘free’. Furthermore, all the downward
trends are found in developing countries. Only half of the 86 countries
ranked by Freedom House as ‘Free’ (respecting a broad array of basic
human rights and political freedoms) are in the Third World. Most Third
World states fall into the ‘Partly Free’ and ‘Not Free’ categories. All but two
of the world’s most repressive regimes, which regularly violate basic human
rights, suppress independent associations (especially trade unions), censor
the mass media, restrict property rights and, in some cases, deny women
basic rights, are Third World countries.
Such regimes are by no means all associated with low incomes, spanning
as they do a diversity of levels of economic development (for example,
Saudi Arabia and Sudan) as well as cultures (for example Cuba and North
Korea) and regions (Burma and Syria). However, the economic conditions
associated with Third World status clearly remain significant. While it is
possible for relatively rich countries to do badly in terms of political and
civil rights violations and repression (e.g. Brunei), and for a poor country
such as Benin to be rated among the countries with the highest level of polit-
ical freedom, generally there is a correlation between levels of political
freedom and economic prosperity (Freedom House, 2001).
The concept of a ‘third’ world
Gunnar Myrdal, winner of the Nobel Prize for economics in 1974, once said
that in the relationship between rich and poor countries there has been diplo-
macy by language, meaning that in the developed, and to a lesser extent the
underdeveloped, countries there has been a constant search for an acceptable
label for this latter group. We sometimes refer to ‘the South’ rather than use
‘developing countries’. Others prefer ‘less developed countries’, while still
10 Understanding Third World Politics