ABSTRACT
From the 1950s until the 1980s, the terms ‘Second World’ and ‘Third World’ were commonly used to describe countries outside the rich, industrialized regions. Today it is increasingly common to hear many of those same non-core countries referred to as ‘emerging markets’. Labels such as these that encompass wide swaths of human diversity are important to examine. The labels both signify profound shifts in the global political economy and have evocative power in themselves. Upon reflection one might wonder in what sense such countries were thought to be ‘second’ or ‘third’, and in what ways they are now said to be ‘emerging’. Whole books are devoted to decoding the histories and connotations of such fundamental labels and concepts of economic development (Sachs, 1992).
