Since its creation in 1978, Third World Quarterly has covered a wide range of topics which champion Southern Scholarship and tackle global inequities. Explore the journal’s evolution:
Pre-1978
Before TWQ
In early 1978, a registered charity, Third World Foundation, was set up and formally recognised by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). This philanthropic foundation was pioneering in publishing a monthly magazine, known as South, and also partnering with the UK newspaper, The Guardian, to produce Third World Review, a four-page supplement primarily focussing on disseminating voices from the Global South.
1978
Third World Quarterly is Born
In December 1978, the interdisciplinary academic journal, Third World Quarterly (TWQ) was launched.
The journal was conceived at a time of grave uncertainty and significant global changes — the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan — and also in response to the rising power, and changing dynamics of countries within the regions known as the Third World during the Cold War.
With a print run of 2,000, TWQ was to provide “a forum for informed and reasoned debate” with its “open-minded and sympathetic search for establishing an international order based on justice.”
1978
North-South Map
In the first issue of the journal, the innovative North-South map (which took inspiration from the Peters Projection map) was printed.
The map encouraged viewers to think of the inequalities of the global distribution of wealth, resources, and power, by accurately representing the significance of countries by their size.
1980
Brandt Line
TWQ devoted an issue to the Brandt Report which was a review of international development inequities between Global South and Global North.
In 1980, a conference was also held in Glasgow in partnership with The Scotsman, and Scottish Television.
1980
North-South Dialogue
In its early years, TWQ had in-depth interviews with eminent statesmen and scholars encouraging conflict resolution.
Third World Affairs was an annual review of the State of the Third World published between 1981 and 1986.
South-South summits took place every year between 1983 and 1986 (in Beijing, Cartagena, Harare and Kuala Lumpur) to create awareness of the causes of poverty and its likely solutions.
1981
The Start of the Third World Prize
The Third World Prize was awarded to individuals and institutions for outstanding contribution to Third World development particularly in the economic, social, political or scientific fields.
Recipients included notable figures such as Argentinian economist Raúl Prebisch for Dependency Theory (1982), Swedish Prime Minister Harlem Brundtland for Sustainable Environment (1989), and Nelson Mandela and Winnie Mandela for a life-long struggle against Apartheid (1985).
1989
Growing Readership
In 1989, the journal had a growing readership of 15,000.
1989
Fall of the Berlin Wall
In November 1989, the fall of the Wall was symbolic of the end of the Cold War. The term “Second World” became largely obsolete following the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 1992, ‘Rethinking Socialism’ covered the topic as a Special Issue.
1990
Shahid Qadir (Editor, 1990 to 2020, Founding Editor 2020 – present day)
Shahid Qadir, who had been the Associate Editor, took over the role as Editor-in-Chief. Formerly an Honorary Research Fellow at Royal Holloway, University of London, he is now the Chair of the Editorial Board and Founding Editor of the journal.
1994
End of Apartheid
Apartheid, a system of racial segregation in South Africa, came to an end leading to the formation of a democratic government in 1994. The journal dedicated an entire issue exploring the possibility of ‘a new South Africa’, which looks at the country’s transition to democracy and includes an article on the end of the Third World.
1997
TWQ Goes Online
In 1997, all TWQ articles were archived into a digital library. View them on the Taylor & Francis website.
2007
ThirdWorlds Book Series Launch
Routledge establishes ThirdWorlds book series with ‘Reconstructing Post-Saddam Iraq’ by Sultan Barakat as the first topic.
Since 2007, over 70 ThirdWorlds titles have been published. Recent issues include: ‘Everyday Life of Drugs’; ‘Social Justice Movements’; ‘Global Land Grabs’; ‘Sport and Development’ and ‘Disability in the Global South’.
2007
Migration Myths
One of the most highly-cited articles from the 2000s was by Hein de Haas, a Dutch sociologist who has lived in The Netherlands and Morocco. In his paper, he questioned migration myths by looking at migration and development through a different lens. Read the full article.
2015
Gender Equality
One of the most cited articles in TWQ was published in 2015, authored by Andrea Cornwall of King’s college London.
Her article looked at reframing established terms such as ‘gender equality’ and ‘women’s empowerment’ used in international development in the 1980s to contribute and connect to a broader movement for gender justice in a post-2015 world. Read the full article.
2015
TWQ Becomes Monthly
With increasing submissions, the journal expanded from its original format of 4 issues per year to 12 in 2015.
Online submission and peer review also became available through the digital submission system, Scholar One.
2016
Third World Thematics (TWT)
Third World Thematics, an online-only partner publication, is born to showcase research on crucial issues facing the contemporary Global South.
2019
Global South Colloquium Fund (GCSF) launched
As part of a community-building programme, TWQ has been grant-giving via the Global South Colloquium Fund, which enables scholars (particularly from the Global South) to travel to or host workshops and conferences.
2021
New Global TWQ Team of Academic Editors
A new interdisciplinary editorial team is formed: Jing Gu, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK; Rirhandu Mageza-Barthel, University of South Africa, South Africa; Marianne H. Marchand, Universidad de las Américas Puebla, Mexico; Mustapha Kamal Pasha, Aberystwyth University, UK; Randolph Persaud, American University, Washington DC,USA and Tiffany Willoughby-Herard, University of California, Irvine, USA
2022
Leading in the Field of Global South Studies
In 2022, 839 articles were submitted and the journal had 781,947 downloads.
2024
12 Grows to 18 Issues
From 2024, TWQ will publish 18 issues a year to “showcase the agency and rising power of the Global South in setting the agenda and providing alternatives to Western ideologies, global inequities, and responses to the global permacrisis”.
2024
Global Souths Hub
