Blackburn University
The Blackburn University Center for Third World Studies, often abbreviated BUCTWS, is a Lovian scientific research and study center operated by Blackburn University and primarily funded for privately by Yuri Medvedev. It was founded in December 2009 by Yuri Medvedev and Harold Freeman. It has its headquarters in Malipa, Newhaven. The center's primary goal is to gather information on the Third World on subjects reaching from geopolitics to economy, and to provide an opportunity to students and researchers in Lovia to study Third World Studies.
Blackburn University invested about 0.5 million US dollars whereas private funding, inland and foreign, supersede 10 million US dollar. Researcher and cofounder Yuri Medvedev already funded over 5 million dollar.
Third World Studies[]
Third World Studies is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the study of the Third World. It incorporates the study of economics, politics, history and culture in Third World Countries. After the decolonization, the Third World emerged as an important concept in diplomacy. In the Cold War the United States and the Soviet Union tried to align as many of these nations as possible, but most of them remained neutral and experimented with economy and politics on their own. But, never has the Third World been so important as today. Civil wars and migration, structural poverty in Africa, religious fundamentalism in the Middle East and the rising of countries like China and India are only a few issues that can be better understood by studying the Third World. The Blackburn University Center's purpose is to provide independent and academic research and education on this subject.
Master of Arts Program[]
The Blackburn University Center for Third World Studies houses the M.A. Program in Third World Studies. This is a one-year academic program of the study of the Third World, organized in two semesters of 15 weeks. The courses are taught in English in the Center’s reading room. Professors are mainly recruited from Lovian universities. The program is open to everyone who has earned an M.A. or an equivalent degree.
Program objectives[]
The competencies to be obtained by the M.A. student in Third World Studies have been officially defined. There are three main objectives of the courses which are:
- To provide an understanding of the Third World and its relationships to the West. In order to understand these relationships, it is necessary to study the historical context out of which the present relationships developed. The student must also have an understanding of the historical development in Europe which resulted in decisions affecting the Third World. There is insistence on both the similarities and differences which Third World societies have among themselves and the similarities and differences with Western societies.
- To provide an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the Third World. The program is not conceived as being exclusively historically oriented nor as being predominantly a social science program, but rather one that integrates both the social sciences and the humanities.
- To provide an understanding of the shifting economic and political nature of the countries that are belonging to the Third World, especially in light of the dramatic political and economic changes worldwide in the late 1980s and 1990s. To this end we shall also address and contextualize the history of the term 'Third World' and its current applications in education and the international media.
Research[]
The three worlds as they were separated during the Cold War era.
██ United States and allies
██ Soviet Union and allies
The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned or neutral with either capitalism and NATO (which along with its allies represented the First World) or communism and the Soviet Union (which along with its allies represented the Second World). This definition provided a way of broadly categorizing the nations of the Earth into three groups based on social, political, and economic divisions. After the fall of the Soviet Union the terms got deprecated. Common alternatives include developing world and Global South.
The Third World makes up the majority of national powers on the planet. These countries represent a modern society, but in the process of potential development as recognized continental representatives of the world community today. The majority among this group, comprises of many moderately wealthy, but militarily effective governments. To include to this, many Third World nations (especially in Africa), are affected drastically by political problems, or bad geographical conditions, such as droughts and non-fertile soil. Many members of the Third World state of national powers, are nonaligned with any global significance (like the United States of America), and squander on their various economic or political concerns in regional affairs.
Current research is conducted by:
Fields and subjects[]
- ANTHROPOLOGY & SOCIOLOGY
- Regional Anthropology: studies on traditional societies and popular religion in Africa and Asia.
- Sociocultural Anthropology: studies on urban cultures in South America and South Asia.
- Social Inequality: studies on class-, race- and gender-based inequality in relation to the Third World.
- Contemporary Social Problems: studies on contemporary issues like migration, poverty and terrorism.
- CULTURE
- Communication and Culture: studies on media and popular culture in the Third World.
- Colonialism and Literature: studies on the portrayal of the colonial era in literature and reciprocal influences.
- Contemporary Literature of the Third World: studies on Third World literature with special attention for the Spanish-American novel.
- HISTORY
- History of Colonialism: studies on the historic and present impact of the colonial era.
- History of the Islamic World: studies on the Muslim/Arabic world from 1500 to present.
- History of Modern Africa: studies on the developments in Africa from 1880 to present.
- History of Latin America: studies on the developments in Latin-America from 1880 to present.
- History of South East Asia: studies on the developments in South East Asia from 1880 to present.
- History of China: studies on the history of China ranging from 1800 to the present.
- POLITICS & ECONOMY
- International Politics and Diplomacy: studies on the international political system and diplomacy concerning the Third World.
- Third World Politics: studies on the political systems of Third World countries.
- Third World Economics: studies on the economical systems of Third World countries.
- Globalization and Social Development: studies on the impact of globalization on society in the Third World.
Ongoing research[]
If there are any topics you might want to suggest, please leave a note on our talk page
- Communism in the Third World, by Yuri Medvedev: We are trying to give an answer to several questions, like why is communism so wide spread in Third World countries? How communist are those who call them so really? And does (or can) communism make a difference? This research will be published as a book.
- The Challenges of Racism, by Yuri Medvedev: A small survey on how racism was and is present in major constructions like the South African 'Apartheid' and how we can overcome such discriminating systems. Besides political mechanisms there will also be attention for historic and cultural components.
- Nationalism and Islam, by Harold Freeman: A publication on the relationship between nationalism and Islam in the Arabic world.
Publications[]
The Blackburn University Center for Third World Research often publishes reports and articles in specialized magazines. Publications can also be found on the research center's webpage or at the center's archive. Occasionally, the center organizes free access lectures or it publishes a book. A list of works made possible by the research conducted at the center can be found below, as well as some highlighted publications.
Communism in the Third World[]
Main article: Communism in the Third World
Communism in the Third World is a study of the Blackburn University Center for Third World Studies by Yuri Medvedev. It formulates an answer to several questions by studying specific cases in the past and present. The study tries to understand why communism so widely spread in Third World countries, where the popularity of the movement lies and just how communist the governments or rebels really are? The final question that the researchers tried to answer is if communism does/can make a difference? Various topics include an overview of how Cuba became communist and how communism is fused together with nationalism in the Arab world. The research is published as a book.
See also[]
| Noble Educational Corporation | |
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General and history: Nobel University - Noble Educational Corporation |
| Blackburn University: Blackburn University - Blackburn University, Newhaven - Blackburn University, Noble City - Blackburn Royal Center for Religious Survey - Blackburn Royal Center for Rational Thought and Skepticism - Blackburn University Center for American Studies - Blackburn University Center for Third World Studies | |
| Secondary education: King Arthur I College - King Arthur II College | |
| Primary education: J.W. Pennington Primary School - Kennedy Primary School - R. Pennington Primary School - Rider Primary School | |