The former Soviet Union and those (formerly) communist states that were politically and economically allied with it are often informally called the Second World. The term developed after World War II to distinguish communist bloc states from powerful...

CENTRALLY PLANNED ECONOMIES of the SOVIET TYPE. These were chiefly the economies of Eastern Europe from 1948 to 1990. See also: First World; Fourth World; Third...

The term "Second World" is a phrase that was used to describe the Communist states within the Soviet Union's sphere of influence. Along with "First World" and "Third World", the term has been used to divide the nations of Earth into three broad...

Hitler's war AUTHORS relish anniversaries, as moths relist light. Among many books published to mark the 50th anniversary of Nazi Germany's attack on Poland that triggered off six years of world war, a handful deserve otice. Richard Overy has written, "with Andrew...

HOW FITTING THAT, just as the fiftieth anniversary of the Second World War is producing a stream of new books, we seem to be witnessing our final victory in that conflict, as the Communist tide that accompanied Germany's collapse recedes from Eastern Europe....

Rudy Giuliani's communications director, Katie Levinson, just sent me a sharp response to John Edwards' attack on Giuliani in the September edition of Foreign Affairs. "Voters will buy this latest political attack about as much as they bought it when Edwards claimed the war on...