Raymond Aron and the Third World

Abstract

Raymond Aron never explicitly devoted a study to the Third World. However, constant reference is made to it in his work. It appears both as a thread that runs through his entire work, allowing an understanding of its central approaches, and as a set of significant historical reflections on the transformation of the Third World during the second half of the twentieth century. Aron approaches the Third World with four major concerns: (1) democracy and totalitarianism; (2) industrial society and development; (3) international and interstate relations; (4) the question of history and probabilistic determinism. In each of these perspectives he offers a fundamentally political interpretation of the Third World.