ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the plethora of labels used in the field and attempt to sort out the defining characteristics. It discusses the evolution of the different groups and investigates the relationship of possible hierarchy, cooperation, or competition among them. The chapter provides a discussion of the various attempts made to institutionalize the Third World and examines how these attempts influence the Third World's collective decision-making process. The revitalization of Nonaligned Movement in the 1970s was associated with some problems concerning the global institutional representation of the Third World. The Third World's self-assertion and the manifestation of its collective identity have come of age, as a function, of the common position of its countries within the global hierarchy. The consensual principle at the basis of Third World decision-making seems to be so generalized that some countries have tried to create a link between this pattern and the "spiritual heritage" of past Third World civilizations.
