11:The Triumph and Tragedy of the "Third world"

Question 1

origin of the term “Third World”

Answer 1

Alfred Sauvy- French economist
‘tiers monde’ in 1952 as a reference to the ‘third estate’ (the commoners of the French Revolution)

Question 2

what is the “Third world”?

Answer 2

• geographical/developemental category
  -defines countries by core socio-economic characteristics

Question 3

what are the characteristics that define “Third world” countries

Answer 3

-poverty
-high birth rates
-low literacy levels
-economic dependence

Question 4

the association of the Third World in the Cold War

Answer 4

first world: the west/developed capitalist states
Second World: Soviet Union/communist bloc
Third world: newly independent states where Cold War powers were competing for alliances/influence

Question 5

What was the Bandung Conference and when?

Answer 5

-April 1955
-a conference of African and Asian nations in Bandung, Indonesia

Question 6

key principles and objectives of the Bandung Conference

Answer 6

-To foster good relations between Asian and African
countries
-To address issues of concern to Afro-Asian peoples:
sovereignty, racism, colonialism
-To consider the position of the Afro-Asian countries
in the Cold War
-The emergence of a group of non-aligned states
determined to remain neutral in the Cold War

Question 7

what was the Non-aligned Movement?

Answer 7

-a follow up to the Bandung conference
-countries were under pressure from the west to establish an anti-soviet position

Question 8

Principles of the non-aligned movement

Answer 8

-Rejection of collective military alliances and foreign
bases as well as bilateral alliances with a great power
-Respect for fundamental human rights and the
Charter of the United Nations.
-Recognition of the equality of all races
-Respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of
all nations
-Support for national liberation movements against
colonialism
-Promotion of mutual interests and co-operation

Question 9

examples of states that failed to stay out of the Cold War and suffered extensive damage as a result

Answer 9

Congo
Indonesia
Cambodia
south africa
Cuba
Angola
Mozambique
Afghanistan
Nicaragua

Question 10

position of the Congo in 1960

Answer 10

it gained independence from Belgium in June
July: Congo in chaos with army mutinies and the secession of the mineral-rich province of Katanga under Moise Tshombe

Question 11

Causes of the Congo crisis

Answer 11

-Belgian troops intervened to support Katanga against the Congolese government
-UN troops entered to restore order, also alienated the left wing Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba
-August 1960: Soviets accused UN of “colonialist behaviour” and sent military aid to Lumumba
-Congo fragmented into 4 rival governments by 1961

Question 12

Congo crisis

Answer 12

-Lumumba was killed by Katangese troops in 1961
-Katangan secession effectively ended in Jan 1963
-November 1965: Joseph Mobutu seized power in a US-backed coup
-Mobutu ruled Congo (renamed Zaire) as a one party state till he died in 1997

Question 13

Cold War intervention in the Congo Crisis

Answer 13

-US Kennedy administration instigated a tougher UN line to reunify Congo after 1961
-Soviets had been kept out of a key area in Africa
-argued that the UN had taken sides

Question 14

consequences of the Congo crisis

Answer 14

UN prestige takes a hit
100’000 died in 1960-65 period

Question 15

Brezhnev Doctrine

Answer 15

-Soviet Foreign Policy that proclaimed that any threat to socialist rule in any state of the soviet bloc, it was a threat to all, so justified intervention
-subsequent support of socialist regimes in Cuba,Angola, Afghanistan

Question 16

Reagan Doctrine

Answer 16

-initiated an aggressive new set of US Cold War policies in the 3rd world
-underpinned US intervention in Afghanistan, Central America and africa

Question 17

South Africa and the Cold War

Answer 17

-SA as an anti-communist Cold War ally complicated the western response to apartheid

Question 18

Who were the 3 groups competing for power in Angola after the war of independence 1961-75?

Answer 18

-Holden Roberto’s FNLA:original liberation movement
-Agostino Neto’s Marxist MPLA
-Jonas Savimbi’s UNITA

Question 19

who backed the FNLA in Angola?

Answer 19

Congo/Zaire
Algeria
USA

Question 20

who backed the MPLA in Angola?

Answer 20

Cuba
Soviet Union

Question 21

who backed the UNITA in Angola

Answer 21

China
South Africa
USA

Question 22

when/why did Angola become a focal point of Cold War tension?

Answer 22

the MPLA defeated FNLA forces to emerge as the UN-recognised government by April 1976

Question 23

foreign troops in Angola

Answer 23

-October 1975: South African troops entered Angola
-November 1975 Operation Carlota: 35,000 Cuban
troops were in Angola by the end of 1976

Question 24

Cold War intervention in Angola

Answer 24

-US incorrectly assumed that the Soviet Union was
behind the Cuban intervention
-By the mid-1980s, the Reagan administration had
become a major backer of UNITA

Question 25

End of violence in Angola

Answer 25

-1988 agreements: South African withdrawal from Angola
-1991 political settlement negotiated between Savimbi and Angolan government
-only ended with Savimbi’s death in 2002
-500’000 Angolans killed in civil war

Question 26

Soviet intervention in Afghanistan

Answer 26

-USSR invaded Afghanistan in December 1979
-Islamic resistance fighters (Mujaheddin) began a
guerrilla war against the USSR
-CIA supplied arms to the Mujaheddin through
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, China, Israel and Iran

Question 27

Consequences of Soviet war in Afghanistan

Answer 27

-Soviets lost 15,000 dead and 37,000 wounded in
the conflict; the war cost the Soviet economy
$7.8 billion a year
-Soviet prestige and international standing
suffered – especially in Asia and the Middle East
-Gorbachev initiated Soviet withdrawal in 1988,
completed in February 1989
-Over a million Afghans died in the war

Question 28

Context of Nicaragua

Answer 28

1979: left wing Sandinista National Liberation Front
(FSLN) won power in Nicaragua
-The US Government began to support the right-wing
Contras against the Sandinistas
-Congress prohibited federal funding of the Contras in
1983 but Reagan continued to provide covert aid by
selling arms to Iran and channelling the profits to the
Contras

Question 29

Consequence of Nicaragua for the US and Reagan

Answer 29

-1986: the World Court judged that US policy in
Nicaragua was in breach of international law and
ordered the USA to pay $17 billion in reparation
-June 1986: US Congress approved a $100 million aid
package to the Contras
Daniel Ortega,
President of
Nicaragua, 1985-90

Question 30

the impact Cold War ideologies had on the Third world

Answer 30

-distorted political and economic development in these countries

Question 31

examples of the impact of Cold War ideologies on the Third World

Answer 31

-Mao and the ‘Khymer Rouge’ sought to transform
Chinese and Cambodian societies into a socialist
utopia
-Suharto and the Shah sought to transform Indonesia
and Iran into advanced capitalist societies