A term originally coined by French anti-colonialist writer and activist Albert Sauvy who chose his phrase to echo the political struggles of French history where pre-revolutionary society was divided into three ‘estates’ – first, second and third – the third estate represented the powerless in French politics and society. Sauvy wanted to draw parallels with this ‘political’ reading of history. The term later became popular in describing those states and societies not part of the first world — the capitalist, economically developed states led by the U.S. — or the second world — the communist states led by the Soviet Union. Political leaders and commentators from poorer, less powerful states, adopted the term to describe themselves as being aligned to neither NATO or the Warsaw Pact, but instead composing a non-aligned "Third World." The term has become controversial since the demise of the second world and as some commentators consider it to be pejorative and outdated preferring terms such as ‘Majority World’ or ‘Global South’. Others disagree, preferring to continue to use a ‘political reading’ of the world, especially the ‘excluded’ world.
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