Three-world model

Political alignments of states during the Cold War Political alignments in Europe during the Cold War after 1961 The three-world model is a lens of political analysis describing the world during the Cold War. The model divides the world's nations into three groups: the First, Second, and Third Worlds. History Background The terms First World, Second World, and Third World were originally used to divide the world's nations into three categories. The complete overthrow of the pre–World War II status quo left two superpowers (the United States and the Soviet Union) vying for global supremacy during the Cold War. Each power formed their own political blocs, which were the basis of the concepts of the First and Second Worlds. The Third World consisted of countries that were not closely aligned with either bloc. Cold War Early in the Cold War era, NATO and the Warsaw Pact were created by the United States and the Soviet Union, respectively. They were also referred to as the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The circumstances of these two blocs were so different that they were essentially two worlds, however, they were not numbered first and second. The onset of the Cold War is marked