The "Third World's" Anticolonial Worldmaking Project

Abstract

While the term “Third World” is a problematic anachronism due to its derogatory connotations, it is used throughout this essay to bring to life a concept envisioned by Vijay Prashad – the Third World Project. In the middle of the twentieth century, newly independent Third World nations dis-played an unprecedented degree of agency and unity as they undertook an anticolonial worldmak-ing project. I will discuss how the creation of the Third World bloc empowered their anticolonial agenda, namely through the Bandung Conference and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). This geopolitical alliance became a formidable force within the international political arena and would blunt a new phenomenon, neocolonialism, as these nations partook in South–South economic, cultural, and defensive cooperation. Lastly, this essay will touch on the transformation of the UN into an institutional vehicle for political independence and economic reform.