[Liberty4eva]

Over the years, I've been bombarded with phrases like "Western culture", Islam vs. the West, Libya vs. The West, and I finally realized that in all my years in school, no one ever said which countries count as "The West". I just assumed it was the USA + Canada + Western Europe but I've lately been wondering about other countries like Israel or Japan or Eastern Europe (now that the USSR is done). They're affluent and have some western values and have western culture. Shouldn't they be counted as part of The West?

[MTVN]

I think it's still just the USA & Western Europe (Canada as well I suppose), Israel are "friends" of the West. I suppose Eastern European countries are beginning to become more like Western ones though, especially with a lot of them now joining the EU & Nato

[DDRickyDD]

USA, Canada, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Somalia.

[Conor]

I would say USA, Canada, Australia, NZ, UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Greece, Hungary, Czech Rep, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, & Argentina & Chile to be precise

I wouldn't really consider it a geographic term (at least not these days) I think it's a mixture of similar ideologies, high living standards, education, general high development, GDP, power, military, infrastructure, production, health, etc ,that varies from country to country, but I'd says that list is pretty much the awesomeness. Fingers crossed China doesn't kick our human-rights enforcing buts in the near future.

[Redway]

When people say "the West", they're usually referring to the more developed countries. It's a common misconception to automatically assume that all countries in Europe or North and Central America are developed: such countries, and even regions, of these continents are very deprived. I would say: France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, United States of America, Canada, Greenland, Spain, much of Italy, etc. The reason why I've put a statement about deprived countries on is because the people from the Eastern side of the world tend to be quite poorer, and look at our standard ways of living; therefore, the location is not the only important factor: the wealth, the society, the standard way of living, is what you would generally look for to define a "Western Country".

[Redway]

Originally Posted by DDRickyDD

USA, Canada, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Somalia.

Somalia's in East Africa.

[Redway]

Originally Posted by Conor

I would say USA, Canada, Australia, NZ, UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Greece, Hungary, Czech Rep, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, & Argentina & Chile to be precise

I wouldn't really consider it a geographic term (at least not these days) I think it's a mixture of similar ideologies, high living standards, education, general high development, GDP, power, military, infrastructure, production, health, etc ,that varies from country to country, but I'd says that list is pretty much the awesomeness. Fingers crossed China doesn't kick our human-rights enforcing buts in the near future.

Exactly what I understand.