Outside Western Europe, which of these countries would you categorise as 'Western' and why?

[Mortimer]

NATO countries and allies, like Japan and South Korea in a broad sense
Probably it can mean white european too or other definitions, but i would agree with high income liberal democracies like japan and south korea

[Oghuz]

Western:

Poland
Czechia
Hungary
Croatia
Serbia
Romania
Bulgaria
Ukraine
Belarus
Argentina
Chile
Uruguay

Russia and Brazil are intermediate, the rest do not qualify.

[alnortedelsur]

There wouldn't be a culture shock going from Western Europe to Venezuela?

This retard must think that Venezuela is like Burundi or Haiti

I grew up in Venezuela and when I left that country to first visit US and then went to live in Spain (and now I'm back living in US), I didn't experienced a deep cultural shock, since Venezuelans (like much of the rest of Latin America, like Mixedguy says, have very similar values, western/christian cultural base, ways to see the world and societal rules as in western Europe and North America) nor I was "amazed" when I saw the shopping centers, the highways, and infrastructure in general (neither in US nor in Spain) because Venezuela has a lot of infrastructure, including highways, modern buildings, shopping centers (Venezuelan cities are full of modern and huge shopping centers that have nothing to envy to the biggest and most modern shopping centers of US, Canada or Australia, and NOT empty, but with lots of people consuming, having good time, and spending their money in there nowadays), subway systems (Caracas has one of the most modern subway systems in the world, and is very similar to Madrid's subway), etc, etc., they don't live in huts back in Venezuela.

[Mixdguy17]

There wouldn't be a culture shock going from Western Europe to Venezuela?

No not really, I mean it's pretty much about the same costumes and same societal view, venezuela is just more a conservative country culturally than some countries in Europe, but no I wouldn't think so beside the language and obviously the nationalities's traditions, but that applies to any country or most foreign countries imo.

I didn't really feel a culture shock going to Europe besides the language. People kind of juts behave around the same Europeans a little more cold in comparison though, Italians and spaniards are a little more similar in attitude.

[Creoda]

No not really, I mean it's pretty much about the same costumes and same societal view, venezuela is just more a conservative country culturally than some countries in Europe, but no I wouldn't think so beside the language and obviously the nationalities's traditions, but that applies to any country or most foreign countries imo.

I didn't really feel a culture shock going to Europe besides the language. People kind of juts behave around the same Europeans a little more cold in comparison though, Italians and spaniards are a little more similar in attitude.

Point taken but the culture of a country is about more than just language and traditions (otherwise Western Europeans couldn't be grouped together), it encompasses the government, politics, the economy, purchasing power, infrastructure, essential services, free press, crime, poverty, social trust, corruption etc

[alnortedelsur]

Point taken but the culture of a country is about more than just language and traditions (otherwise Western Europeans couldn't be grouped together), it encompasses the government, politics, the economy, purchasing power, infrastructure, essential services, free press, crime, poverty, social trust, corruption etc

Those things are not determinant of being part of the west or not, but the language, values, tradition, world view and cultural base.

And Venezuela and much of Latin America aren't as backwards in infrastructure and services as you think. And all those Latin American countries (including today's Venezuela regardless of if people believe it or not) have a considerable segment of their respective populations with a decent purchasing power, who have a life level like any common person in Europe, North America, Australia and NZ, or other wise, the Venezuelan shopping centers wouldn't be full of people consuming, spending their money and having fun like they currently are. And Venezuela has lower criminality than few years back.

In social trust, poverty levels (however not as biafra), and corruption, most Latin American countries are still very backwards, but those defects don't disqualify them of being part of the west.

[Grace O'Malley]

I don't consider these countries western even though places like Singapore and Japan are very advanced. They are majority Asian.

Ukraine
Belarus
Russia
Japan
South Korea
Taiwan
Singapore
Hong Kong
UAE
Qatar
Bahrain

Regarding Latin America I do consider them western as they descend from Europeans and are Christian. There are some Latin Americans here now and there are no cultural differences with them and Europeans.

[Lisyonok]

In Europe, Western / Eastern division is based on former Iron Curtain. So Nordic countries, Germany, Austria, Italy and everything west from them are Western.

Additionally USA and Canada are commonly referred as Western.

Saying that Japan, South Korea etc. are Western is like saying that Turkey is a Nordic country. And Eastern European countries are not Western by definition.

I don´t know what is the idea about using term "Western countries" anyway...

[Nurzat]

core:

UK
US
Canada
Australia
New Zealand
South Africa (Whites in South Africa qualify as Westerners for both Westerners and the rest)
France
Netherlands/Belgium/Luxembourg
Germany
Switzerland
Austria
Ireland


second layer (Western + Nordic):

Denmark
Sweden
Norway
Finland
Iceland


third layer (Western + Mediterranean):

Spain
Portugal
Italy
Greece
Monaco


fourth layer (Western as development, not Western as culture):

Hong Kong
Singapore
Japan
South Korea
Taiwan


fifth layer (somehow Western as development, Eastern Euro as culture):

Estonia
Slovenia
Czech Rep.
Poland
Hungary
Slovakia
Croatia

[Tooting Carmen]

I don't consider these countries western even though places like Singapore and Japan are very advanced. They are majority Asian.

Ukraine
Belarus
Russia
Japan
South Korea
Taiwan
Singapore
Hong Kong
UAE
Qatar
Bahrain

Regarding Latin America I do consider them western as they descend from Europeans and are Christian. There are some Latin Americans here now and there are no cultural differences with them and Europeans.

If Latin Americans were really so similar to Americans, then mass migration of them there would not be considered just as controversial as are mass migrations of Africans and MENAs to Europe. Plus what about heavily Amerindian countries like Guatemala and Bolivia, where many people still speak indigenous languages and keep up their traditions? On that basis, do you consider Afro-Caribbeans to be Western too, since they are Christian and monolingual English-speaking?