The Third World

1. The Third World An Overview

2. What is the Third World? • Mao’s theory – non-aligned nations • Political theorist Hannah Arendt argues that "The Third World is not a reality but an ideology."

3. Why significant? US: • US needed open economies • Controlling access to resources (oil!), markets, labour • Overcoming the dollar shortage • US investment and imports from Third World increases $ in Third World. Western Europe and Japan would trade and tax Third World, then buy US products = reconstruction in Europe and prosperity in States SU: • See readings…

4. Changes in US attitude • Previous to the war = colonisation creates instability and radicalises politics (+ US companies tended to be excluded from colonies) • After war = decolonization contributes to instability and hostile conditions to Western capitalism • Favoured independence as ultimate goal but worked with colonial powers to ensure pro-Western elements

5. Support for conservative groups and their military allies US sponsored a regional security pact (the Rio Treaty) and the formation of the OAS in 1948 Stressed non-intervention principles enshrined in both organisations’ charters Permitted collective intervention from external threats Traditional US determination to maintain economic and strategic sphere influence Latin America

6. Africa • Distant from main centres of Cold War conflict but… significant in African devt. • In southern Africa the US sought to exclude Soviet and leftist influence: supported colonial powers (Britain, France, Belgium, Portugal + white minority govt. in RSA) • Allies of US struggle against communism • Southern Africa rich in strategic minerals including uranium (key for atomic bombs) • Despite differences (esp. over apartheid), anti-communism key to strategic relationships

7. Middle East • Crucial imptc. oil to modern warfare + recovery of Europe and Japan – look to Middle East • Independence Lebanon and Syria (1946) and ultimately successful challenges to control of Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria (France) • Britain withdrew from Palestine 1948 (loss of Indian Army) • British faced challenge to position in Egypt and Iran • Post-war Iran very unstable, as result of economic impact of the war and political struggle between the shah and the Majlis (parliament) • Competition among Britain, the US, the SU exacerbated Iran’s instability

8. Asia - Japan • Japan only industrialized power in Asia • Japan’s defeat led to independence of Korea and return of Taiwan to China • US played major role in defeat of Japan - planned to remake Japanese society = purge elements responsible for the war and promote democratization, demilitarization and deconcentration of economic power • US-sponsored reforms included extending the suffrage, reforming land tenure, breaking up the zaibatsu (financial and industrial conglomerates), extending labour rights and abolishing the military • US “reversed course” in 1947-8 and began emphasizing economic reconstruction and political stability in Japan • Rehabilitation of old elites and institutions to re-establish political order and rebuild the economy • Not rebuild military (no neighbours to balance power)

9. Independence movementsUS and Britain • Revolutions in the Third World often combined national struggle against foreign domination with an internal social revolution • This combo especially strong in postwar Asia • Philippines – granted independence 1946 but electoral fraud and resistance Filipino elite, rural rebellion • Malay - British defeated communist-led insurgency supported by ethnic Chinese • Independence granted to India-Pakistan 1947, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) 1947, Burma 1948

10. Independence MovementsFrance and the Netherlands • French and Dutch opposed independence movements • Indonesia and Indochina impt. sources of Third World dollars • SU involvement minimal, but US pressured Dutch to turn over power • Vietnam = faced with movement led by communists or continuation of French colonial rule, US supported French in finding and supporting non-communists • US saw successful resolution of these conflicts as essential to achieving their economic, political and military goals in Europe as well as Asia

11. Korea and China • Korea split along 38th parallel • China, Mao Zedong and communists came to power, despite over $3 billion US assistance to the GMD • Chinese model of revolutionary struggle based on the peasantry had significant impact on the Cold War, even before Mao definitively looked to the SU for assistance • GMD fled to Taiwan, and US strategists regarded it as essential to US shipping lanes, air routes and strategic base for Asian mainland

12. NSC-68 • SU successfully tested atomic bomb in 1949 • Truman approved manufacture more weapons • Creation of document NSC-68, drafted 1950 by State Department official Paul Nitze • SU = relentlessly expansionist adversary • Considered the ‘blue-print’ of the Cold War, declassified 1977 • Only US military superiority would prevent Soviets from expanding further • Atomic monopoly removed • NSC-68 called for the US to undertake a “rapid build-up of the political, economic, and military strength” of the “free world” • Required tripling of US military expenditure – Congress an obstacle but… • When North Korean forces invaded South Korea the political climate changed