The Free World is a Cold War-era term often applied to or used by non-communist nations to describe themselves. The term was used to contrast the greater personal freedom enjoyed by citizens of non-communist countries that were democratic, such as the United States and Western Europe, with the Soviet Union and its East European allies. The usage of this term, however, generally does not take into account the many other non-communist states allied with the "Free World" during the Cold War, most notably in South America, Asia and Africa, many of which have been criticised as repressive and dictatorial. For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Democracy (disambiguation). ... A current understanding of Western Europe. ...
Because of USA's prominent role in the Cold War, the President of the United States was often dubbed the "leader of the Free World", particularly in the United States itself. Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Atlas US Government Portal For other uses, see President of the United States (disambiguation). ... The Leader of the Free World is a title used sometimes to describe the President of the United States, though the title is debated by those who consider themselves to be part of the Free World, but not under the leadership of the United States. ...
Free World is also the title of a 2004 book by British political commentator Timothy Garton Ash. Timothy Garton Ash (born 12 July 1955) is the British author of eight books of political writing or âhistory of the presentâ which have charted the transformation of Europe over the last quarter-century. ...
In English, world is rooted in a compound of the obsolete words were, man, and eld, age; thus, its oldest meaning is "age or life of man".
In this sense, a world map is a map of the surface of the Earth.
After World War II it became common to speak of the capitalist and Communist countries as two major blocs, using such terms as the "freeworld" as compared to the "communist bloc".
The term "freeworld" is still used today, to decribe nations that are fully free from Communism and Military Dictatorship.
Because of America's prominent role in the Cold War, the President of the United States was often dubbed the "leader of the FreeWorld", particularly in the United States itself.
So they for example speak of the FreeWorld (note the capital letters) when they refer to a GNU/Linux distribution composed only of free software and they say that for example some free application that uses non-free libraries can't be run in a FreeWorld, since in a FreeWorld these non-free libraries don't exist.