A centrist political perspective: Yves Lacoste and the Third World controversy in the French intelligentsia

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47456/geo.v6i43.53475

Keywords:

Yves Lacoste, Third World, third-worldism

Abstract

This article examines Yves Lacoste’s position in the French controversy over Third-Worldism, based on Contre les anti-tiers-mondistes et contre certains tiers-mondistes, published in 1985. Situated within intellectual history, the article treats centrism as an analytical category for understanding the position Lacoste adopted between liberal-conservative anti-Third-Worldism and certain revolutionary Third-Worldist currents. The study draws on Lacoste’s memoirs, texts by the protagonists of the controversy, and later critical interpretations. It argues that the Cultural Revolution, the Cambodian genocide, and the boat people crisis helped move Lacoste away from a socialist-revolutionary horizon toward a reformist, democratic, and humanitarian grammar. By rejecting both the liberal denunciation of Third-Worldism and the automatic political unity of the Third World, Lacoste defended the effectiveness of aid policies, while reducing the explanatory weight of imperialism, plunder, and colonial relations in the making of the modern world.

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Author Biography

  • José Arnaldo dos Santos Ribeiro Junior, Federal University of Maranhão

    Geographer and Professor of Geography in Higher Education at the Federal University of Maranhão, Codó Campus. He holds a Bachelor’s and Teaching Degree in Geography from the Federal University of Maranhão (UFMA, 2011), a specialization in Ethical and Political Philosophy from the Institute of Higher Studies of Maranhão (IESMA, 2014), and a Master’s degree (2014) and PhD (2023) in Sciences — Human Geography — from the School of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences (FFLCH) of the University of São Paulo (USP). For his doctoral research, he received third place in the Exhibition of Final Papers of Stricto Sensu Graduate Programs by IFMA staff members. He is a member of Rede Brasilis — the Brazilian Network for the History of Geography and Historical Geography — and of the Research and Teaching Group in Human Sciences (PEnCiH). His expertise lies in Human Geography, with an emphasis on Political Geography. His main research interests include the History of Geographical Thought, Geopolitics, and Economic Geography.

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Yves Lacoste e a capa Contre les anti-tiers-mondistes et contre certains tiers-mondistes

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Published

01-10-2026

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 43 (2026): Geografares Journal

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Papers Varia

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How to Cite

RIBEIRO JUNIOR, J. A. DOS S. A centrist political perspective: Yves Lacoste and the Third World controversy in the French intelligentsia. Geografares, v. 6, n. 43, p. e-53475, 1 Oct.2026.