Fourth World

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The term Fourth World in academia sometimes refers to a sub-population subjected to social exclusion in global society, but since the 1974 publication of The Fourth World: An Indian Reality by George Manuel, Chief of the National Indian Brotherhood/Assembly of First Nations, Fourth World has come to be known as a synonym for stateless and notably impoverished or marginalized nations.^[1] Since 1979, think tanks like the Center for World Indigenous Studies have made extensive use of the term in defining the rapidly evolving relationships between ancient nations and modern states.^[2] With the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, communications and organizing amongst Fourth World peoples has accelerated in the form of international treaties between aboriginal nations for the purposes of trade, travel, and security.^[3]

The internationally renowned sociologist Manuel Castells, of the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication, has made extensive use of the term in such publications as the International Journal of Communication.

Fourth World follows the progression First World, Second World and Third World, which forms a distinct hierarchy of categories for nation-state status. However, unlike these categories, Fourth World denotes nations without states. This sense emphasizes the non-recognition or exclusion of often ethnically or religiously defined groups from the political and economic world system. Examples of Fourth World nations include the Roma worldwide, pre-WWI Ashkenazi in the region of the Pale of Settlement, Kurds and Palestinians in the Middle East, many Native American/First Nations groups throughout the Americas and many indigenous Africans and Asians.

See also: Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Fourth World Journal
• Fourth World Center for the Study of Indigenous Law and Politics at University of Colorado at Denver
• Fourth World: Nations without a State - Nadesan Satyendra
• Fourth World Eye
• Fourth World Documentation Program

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