(Redirected from Western World)The term 'Western world', 'the West' or the 'Occident' (
Latin ''occidens'' -sunset, -west, as distinct from the
Orient)
[1] can have multiple meanings dependent on its context (e.g., the time period, or the social situation). Accordingly, the basic definition of what constitutes the West will vary, expanding and contracting, in relation to various circumstances. The historic West originated in the Mediterranean (
ancient Greece and
ancient Rome), but it came to include
Central and
Western Europe, although some would include the whole of
Europe (except in terms of Church, i.e.,
Eastern Christianity), as well as perhaps all of
Russia (except during the
U.S.S.R. era). Linguistically the frontier would run as far as the
Indian Subcontinent. Since Columbus the notion of the West has expanded to include
North America and
South America, though much of
Latin America has more
pre-Western influence; later still,
Australia and
New Zealand. However during the
Cold War the core of ''the West'' was often confined to
N.A.T.O. countries.
[2] Today, in a political or economic context, perhaps the West would also include developed countries such as
Japan,
Taiwan and
South Korea, etc. In a world religious context, some would include those faiths acknowledging
Abraham, however this would umbrella Islamic countries into the category. Generally speaking, the current consensus would locate the West in, at the least, the cultures and peoples of Europe, the two Americas, and Australia and New Zealand.
[3]
Historical divisions
The origins of the word "West" in terms of geopolitical boundaries started in the 1900s. Prior to this most humans would have thought about different nations, languages, individuals, and geographical regions, but with no idea of "Western" nations as we know it today. Many world maps were so crude and inaccurate before the 1800s that geographical and political differences would be harder to measure. Few would have access to good maps and even fewer had access to accurate descriptions of who lived in far away lands.
Western thought as we think of it today, is shaped by ideas of the 1900s and 1800's, originating mainly in Europe. What we think of as "Western" thought today is defined as
Greco-Roman and
Judeo-Christian culture, the
Renaissance, the
Enlightenment and
colonialism. As a consequence the term ''Western thought'' is at times unhelpful and vague, since it can define two separate (although related) sets of traditions and values: Firstly, the Christian (or Western Christian) moral tradition and religious values; Secondly, secular values, often with a rationalist anti-clerical tradition. Less acknowledged but equally as important was the influence of the
Germanic cultures whose people overran Western Europe beginning in the fifth century AD and effectively became the rulers of Western Europe into the modern age, first in the form of the Goths and the Vandals and later in the form of the Franks who unified the West. In addition, many individuals throughout history do not easily fit into a
false dichotomy of East or West.
Hellenic
The
Hellenic division between the barbarians and the
Greeks contrasted in many societies the
Greek-speaking culture of the Greek settlements around the Mediterranean to the surrounding non-Greek cultures.
Herodotus considered the
Persian Wars of the early
5th century BC a conflict of
Europe versus
Asia (which he considered to be all land West and East of the
Sea of Marmara, respectively). The terms "West" and "East" were not used by any Greek author to describe that conflict. The anachronistic application of those terms to that division entails a stark logical contradiction, given that, when the term
West appeared, it was used in opposition to the Greeks and Greek-speaking culture.
Western society is sometimes claimed to trace its cultural origins to both
Greek thought and
Christian religion, thus following an evolution that began in ancient Greece, continued through the
Roman Empire and, with the coming of
Christianity (which has its origins in the
Middle East), spread throughout Europe.
However, the conquest of the western parts of the
Roman Empire by
Germanic peoples and the subsequent advent of
despotism in the form of dominance by the Western Christian
Papacy (which held combined political and spiritual authority, a
state of affairs absent from Greek civilization in all its stages), resulted into a rupture of the previously existing ties between the Latin West and Greek thought,
[4] including Christian Greek thought. The
Great Schism and the
Fourth Crusade confirmed this deviation. Hence, the Medieval West is limited to Western
Christendom only, as the Greeks and other European peoples not under the authority of the
Papacy are not included in it. The clearly Greek-influenced form of Christianity,
Orthodoxy, is more linked to Eastern than Western Europe. On the other hand, the Modern West, emerging after the
Renaissance as a new civilization, has been influenced by (its own interpretation of) Greek thought, which was preserved in the Byzantium Empire during the Medieval West's
Dark Ages and transmitted therefrom by trade and war. ''The Enlightenment'' in the West emerged from the glory of the Eastern Roman Empire; the Byzantium Empire. Moreover, European peoples not included in Western Christendom, such as the Greeks, have redefined their relationship to this new, secular, variant of Western civilization, and have increasingly participated in it in since then.
Therefore, the idea of Western society being influenced from (but not being the single evolution of) ancient Greek thought makes sense only for the post-
Renaissance period of Western history.
The Roman Empire
Area under Roman control
Expansion of the Roman Empire.
'Ancient
Rome' (510 BC-AD 476) was a civilization that grew from a
city-state founded on the
Italian Peninsula circa the
9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the
Mediterranean Sea. In its twelve-century existence, Roman civilization shifted from a
monarchy, to a
republic, to an
autocratic empire. It came to dominate
Western Europe, the
Balkans and the entire area surrounding the
Mediterranean Sea through conquest using the
Roman legions and then through
cultural assimilation by giving Roman privileges and eventually citizenship to the whole empire. Nonetheless, despite its great legacy, a number of factors led to the eventual
decline of the Roman Empire.
The
Western Roman Empire eventually broke into independent kingdoms in the
5th century due to civil wars, corruption, and devastating
Germanic Invasions from such tribes as the
Goths, the
Franks and the
Vandals; the Eastern Roman Empire, governed from
Constantinople, is usually referred to as the
Byzantine Empire after 476, the traditional date for the "fall of the Western Roman Empire" and for the subsequent onset of the
Early Middle Ages. The Eastern Roman Empire survived the fall of the West, and protected Roman legal and cultural traditions combining them with
Greek and Christian elements, for another thousand years.
The Roman Empire succeeded the about 500 year-old Roman Republic (
510 BC -
1st century BC), which had been weakened by the conflict between
Gaius Marius and
Sulla and the civil war of
Julius Caesar against
Pompey and
Marcus Brutus. During these struggles hundreds of senators were killed, and the
Roman Senate had been refilled with loyalists of the
First Triumvirate and later those of the
Second Triumvirate.
Several dates are commonly proposed to mark the transition from Republic to Empire, including the date of Julius Caesar's appointment as perpetual
roman dictator (
44 BC), the victory of Caesar's heir
Octavian at the
Battle of Actium (
September 2,
31 BC), and the Roman Senate's granting to Octavian the
honorific ''
Augustus''. (
January 16,
27 BC). Octavian/Augustus officially proclaimed that he had saved the Roman Republic and carefully disguised his power under republican forms;
consuls continued to be elected,
tribunes of the plebeians continued to offer legislation, and senators still debated in the
Roman Curia. However, it was Octavian who influenced everything and controlled the final decisions, and in final analysis, had the legions to back him up, if it ever became necessary.
Roman expansion began long before the state was changed into an Empire and reached its zenith under emperor
Trajan with the conquest of
Dacia in AD 106. During this territorial peak the Roman Empire controlled approximately 5 900 000 km² (2,300,000 sq.mi.) of
land surface. From the time of Caesar to the Fall of the Western Empire, Rome dominated
Western Eurasia and the
Mediterranean, comprising the majority of its population.
Ancient Rome has contributed greatly to the development of law, war, art, literature, architecture, technology and language in the Western world, and its
history continues to have a major influence on the world today.
Christian schism
Religious split in Europe (Catholicism - blue, Protestantism - green, Orthodoxy - rose, Sunni Islam - purple)
In the early
4th century, the
Roman Emperor Constantine the Great established the city of
Constantinople as the capital of the
Eastern Roman Empire. The Eastern Empire included lands east of the
Adriatic Sea and bordering on the Eastern
Mediterranean and parts of the
Black Sea. These two divisions of the Eastern and Western Empires were reflected in the administration of the
Christian Church, with
Rome and
Constantinople debating and arguing over whether either city was the capital of Christianity. As the eastern and western churches spread their influence, the line between "East" and "West" can be described as moving, but generally followed a
cultural divide that was defined by the existence of the Byzantine empire and the fluctuating power and influence of the church in Rome. Some, including Huntington, theorized that this cultural division still existed during the
Cold War as the approximate western boundary of those countries that were allied with the
Soviet Union; others have criticized these views on the basis that they confuse the Eastern Roman Empire with Russia, especially considering the fact that the country that had the most historical roots in Byzantium, Greece, was allied with the West during the Cold War.
Under
Charlemagne, the
Franks established an empire that was recognized as the
Holy Roman Empire by the Christian
Patriarch of Rome, offending the
Roman Emperor in
Constantinople. The crowning of the Emperor by the
Pope led to the assumption that the highest power was the papal hierarchy, establishing, until the
Protestant Reformation, the civilization of
Western Christendom. The
Latin Rite Christian Church of
western and
central Europe headed by the
Patriarch of Rome split with the eastern, Greek-speaking Patriarchates during the
Great Schism. Meanwhile, the extent of each expanded, as Scandinavia, Germany, Britain, and the other non-Christian lands of the northwest were converted by the
Western Church, while Russia and much of Eastern Europe were converted by the
Eastern Church.
In this context, the Protestant reformation may be viewed as a schism within the Latin Church. Martin Luther, in the wake of precursors, broke with the Pope and with the Emperor, backed by many of the German princes. These changes were adopted by the Scandinavian kings. Later, the commoner Jean Cauvin (John Calvin) assumed the religio-political leadership in Geneva, a former ecclesiastical city whose prior ruler had been the Bishop. The English King later improvised on the Lutheran model, but subsequently many Calvinist doctrines were adopted by popular dissenters, leading to the English Civil War. Both royalists and dissenters colonized North America, eventually resulting in an independent U.S.A.
The Colonial "West"
The voyages of discovery, conquest, and exploitation of the
Spanish and
Portuguese and the rise of the
Dutch,
British and French
colonial empires saw the expansion of Western European institutions around the world. The dissolution of Western
Christendom and the legal establishment in
international law of the principle of
national sovereignty, culminated in the
French Revolution with the creation of the
Nation State. Coupled with the
Industrial revolution in Britain, these political and economic institutions have come to influence most nations of the world today. This however, was due to mandates that required post-colonial societies to form nation-states, creating boundaries and borders that did not necessarily represent a whole nation of people. In this way, through the colonial cultural impositions and post-colonial political processes, Western Civilization has become global in its influence.
During the
colonial era, western thought might be said to have been implanted in the
Americas and in
Australasia.
The Cold War
During the
Cold War, a new definition emerged. The
Earth was divided into three "worlds". The
First World, analogous in this context to ''the West'', was composed of
NATO members and other countries aligned with the
United States. The
Second World was the
Eastern bloc in the
Soviet sphere of influence, including the
Soviet Union and
Warsaw Pact countries. The
Third World consisted of countries
unaligned with either, and important members include
India,
Yugoslavia and for a time the
People's Republic of China, though some find it expedient to group the latter group under
Second World either because of their
communist ideology, or geopolitical importance.
East and West in 1980, as defined by the Cold War.
European
trade blocs as of the late 1980s. EEC member states are marked in blue,
EFTA – green, and Comecon – red.
There were a number of countries which did not fit comfortably into this neat definition of partition, including
Switzerland,
Sweden, and the
Republic of Ireland, which chose to be neutral.
Finland was under the ''Soviet Union's'' sphere of influence but remained neutral, was not communist, nor was it a member of the
Warsaw Pact or
Comecon. In 1955 , when
Austria again became a fully independent republic, it did so under the condition that it remained neutral, but as a country to the west of the
Iron Curtain, it was in the ''United States'' sphere of influence.
Turkey was a member of NATO but was not usually regarded as either part of the First or Western worlds.
Spain did not join NATO until 1982, towards the end of the Cold War and after the death of the authoritarian
Franco.
Modern definitions
The exact scope of the Western World is somewhat subjective in nature, depending on whether cultural, economic or political criteria are used. In general however these definitions always include the following countries: the countries of Western Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. These are Western European or Western European-settled nations which enjoy relatively strong economies and stable governments, have chosen
democracy as a form of governance, favor
capitalism and free
international trade, and have some form of political and
military alliance or cooperation.
Many anthropologists, sociologists and historians still make the mistake of opposing "the West and the Rest" in a categorical manner.
[5] The same has been done by Malthusian demographers with a sharp distinction between European and non-European family systems. Among anthropologists, this includes
Durkheim,
Dumont and
Lévi-Strauss.
As the term "Western world" does not have a strict international definition, governments do not use the term in legislation of
international treaties and instead rely on other definitions.
Cultural
:''See:
Western Culture.''
From a cultural and sociological approach the Western world is defined as including all cultures that are (directly derived from) European cultures, i.e. Europe, the Americas (North and Latin America), Australia and New Zealand (and sometimes
South Africa and the
Philippines). Together these countries constitute "Western society"
[6] [1] [2] These are generally countries that share similar history, religions, languages, values and traditions. Culturally, many Latin Americans, particularly Argentines, Uruguayans, Colombians, Chileans and Brazilians, firmly consider themselves Westerners, especially the
ruling classes, although some Western Europeans and
North Americans would probably not include these Latin Americans in their concept of Western because they emphasize (or also include) political or economic criteria.
Some countries like
Lebanon,
Israel,
Turkey, and
Bosnia and Herzegovina may be considered Western because of the blend of Western and non-Western culture.
In the
20th Century, Christianity declined in influence in many western countries, in
Europe and elsewhere.
Secularism (separating religion from politics and science) increased. However, while church attendance is in decline, most Westerners nominally identify themselves as Christians (e.g. 70% in the
UK) and occasionally attend church on major occasions. In the United States, Christianity continues to play an important societal role, thus helping to maintain Christianity's important role in Western culture. The
official religion of the United Kingdom and some Nordic countries is Christianity, even though the majority of European countries have no official religion. Despite this, Christianity, in its different forms, remains the largest faith in most Western countries.
Political
Countries of the Western World are thought to have
democracy,
rule of law,
human rights and a high degree of
gender equality. Additionally countries with strong political and military ties to
Western Europe,
NATO or the United States, such as
Japan,
Israel,
South Korea and
Turkey may also be referred to being part of the western world.
As such, this definition of "Western" is not necessarily tied to the geographic sense of the word. A geographically western nation such as
Cuba is sometimes not considered "western" due to its general rejection of
liberal democracy,
freedom of the press, and
personal liberty. Conversely, some eastern nations, for example; Japan, Israel, Taiwan, and South Korea, could be considered "western", due to their general adherence to the aforementioned "western" institutions.
Economic
The majority of the green-colored countries constitutes the current First World.
Though the
Cold War has ended, and the former
Soviet Bloc is making a general movement towards capitalism and other values common for the United States and Western Europe, some former
Soviet republics are not considered "western" because of the small presence of international capital in their economy.
Although it is inaccurate to do so, the term "Western world" is often interchangeable with the term
First World stressing the difference between First World and the
Third World or
developing countries. The term "
The North" has in some contexts replaced earlier usage of the term "the West", particularly in the critical sense, as a more robust demarcation than "West" and "East". The North provides some absolute geographical indicators for the location of wealthy countries, most of which are physically situated in the
Northern Hemisphere, although, as most countries are located in the northern hemisphere in general, some have considered this distinction to be equally unhelpful. The thirty countries in the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which include: the
EU,
Norway,
Iceland,
Switzerland,
Canada, the
United States,
Australia,
New Zealand,
South Korea and
Japan, generally include what used to be called the "first world" or the "developed world", although the OECD includes a few countries, namely
Mexico and
Turkey, that are not yet fully industrial countries, but
newly industrialized countries. The existence of "The North" implies the existence of "
The South", and the
socio-economic divide between North and South. Although
Israel,
Singapore,
Taiwan and
Hong Kong are not members of the OECD, they might also be regarded as "western" or "northern" countries or regions, because their high living standards and their social, economical and
political structure are quite similar to those of the OECD member countries.
Other Views
A series of scholars of civilization, including
Arnold J. Toynbee,
Alfred Kroeber and
Carroll Quigley have identified and analyzed "
Western civilization" as one of the
civilizations that have historically existed and still exist today. Toynbee entered into quite an expansive mode, including as candidates those countries or cultures who became so heavily influenced by the West as to adopt these borrowings into their very self-identity; carried to its limit, this would in practice include almost everyone within the West, in one way or another. In particular, Toynbee refers to the ''intelligentsia'' formed among the educated elite of countries impacted by the European expansion of centuries past. While often pointedly nationalist, these cultural and political leaders interacted within the West to such an extent as to change both themselves and the West.
[7]
In such case, the West would be wise to be understanding of the "non-Western" world, as of its own co-authors, to remain aware of its own cultural debts to the creations arisen in the "non-Western" World, and accordingly, to become a generous, mature peace maker.
Huntington's map of major civilizations, which did not attempt to identify "lone countries" and certain exceptional cases, such as for instance
Haiti and
Turkey. What constitutes Western civilization in his view is coloured dark blue.
Yet more recently,
Samuel P. Huntington has taken a far more restricted approach, forging a narrow
political science hypothesis he labelled the "
The Clash of Civilizations?" in a ''Foreign Affairs'' article and a book.
[8] According to Huntington's hypothesis, what he calls "conflicts between civilizations" will be the primary tensions of the 21st century world. In this hypothesis, the West is based on religion, as the countries of
Western and
Central Europe were historically influenced by the two forms of
Western Christianity, namely
Catholicism and
Protestantism. Also, many Anglo-phone countries share these traits, i.e.,
Australia and
New Zealand, as well as the more heterogeneous
United States and
Canada. Of course, so does
Latin America.
[9] Huntington's thesis was influential, but was by no means universally accepted; its supporters say that it explains modern conflicts, such as those in the former
Yugoslavia; the thesis' detractors fear that by equating values like
democracy with "Western civilization", it reinforces racist and/or xenophobic notions about "non-Western" societies, as well as blatantly ignoring non-Western democracies. As such, it will serve to provoke and amplify conflict rather than illuminating a way to find an accommodating world order, or in particular cases a commonly agreed solution.
In Huntington's narrow thesis, the historically
Eastern Orthodox nations of southeastern and
Eastern Europe constitute a distinct "Euro-Asiatic civilization"; although European and
Christian, these nations were not, in Huntington's view, shaped by the cultural influences of the Renaissance. The
Renaissance did not affect
Orthodox Eastern Europe due in part to the proximity of Ottoman domination; though the decisive influence on the Renaissance of
Greek emigré scholars should be acknowledged.
[10]
Other views might be made regarding Eastern Europe.
[11]
Huntington also considered the possibility that
South America is a separate civilization from the West, but also mused that it might become a third part (the first two being North America and Europe) of the West in the future.
[12]
The
theologian and
paleontologist, and generous and wide-ranging philosopher,
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin conceived of the West as the set of civilizations decended from the
Nile Valley Civilization of
Egypt.
[13]
The "West" may also be used
pejoratively by those especially critical of the influence of the West and its history of
imperialism and
colonialism. Ethnocentric definitions of the term Western world are definitions often constructed around one or another
Western culture. The British writer
Rudyard Kipling wrote about this contrast: ''East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet'', expressing that somebody from the West can never understand the Asian cultures as the latter differ too much from the Western cultures. Perhaps these views are precursors to Huntington.
But the expansive view of the Western World is inclusive. So intertwined has humanity become that we share more than is commonly realized.
[14] Not only intertwined but we are similar if distant cousins. Paradoxically, today Asia and Africa to varying degrees may be considered quasi-Western. Many East Asians and South Asians and Africans and others associate or even identify with the cosmopolitan cultures and international societies referred to sometimes as Western. Likewise, many in the West identify with a transcultural humanity, a notion often found in visions of the sacred.
See also
References
1. the West AKA Occident at World Book Encyclopedia
2. Founded in 1949, N.A.T.O. in 1952 admitted Greece and Turkey.
3. Society in Focus, , William, Thompson, Pearson, 2005, 0-205-41365-X Broek and Webb, ''A Geography of Mankind'' (2nd ed., 1973) at 199, 201; cf., Arnold Toynbee, ''Change and Habit'' (Oxford Univ., 1966).
4. Charles Freeman. The Closing of the Western Mind. Knopf, 2003. ISBN 1-4000-4085-X
5. New Left Review - Jack Goody: The Labyrinth of Kinship
6. Society in Focus, , William, Thompson, Pearson, 2005, 0-205-41365-X
7. Cf., Arnold J. Toynbee, ''Change and Habit. The challenge of our time'' (Oxford 1966, 1969) at 153-156; also, Toynbee, ''A Study of History'' (10 volumes, 2 supplements).
8. Sameul P. Huntington, ''The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order'' (1996).
9. About Latin America Huntington was evidently ambivalent; see text at next after paragraph.
10. Scholars such as Georgios Gemistos Plethon, Manuel Chrysoloras, Theodorus of Gaza, Ioannis Argyropoulos, Markos Mousouros and Demetrius Chalcondyles.
11. The Renaissance was said to be weak in the frontier region of Hungary because Ottoman military pressure long limited Hungarian access to their fellow Roman Catholics in Austria. Yet regarding Hungary, such views wander away from the consensus. Some claim the reforms of Peter the Great (1682-1725) and Catherine II the Great (1762-96) were inspired by the Enlightenment. However, they departed considerably from the Enlightenment idea of respect for the individual: Peter's projects for St Petersburg cost the lives of 30,000 workers (though such loss of life was not unknown in Western Europe), and under both Peter and Catherine most Russians remained serfs. It is unclear whether these views are those of Huntington or not.
12. Huntington evidently did not detail Australia and New Zealand, but see map.
13. Cf., Teilhard de Chardin, ''Le Phenomene Humain'' (1955), translated as ''The Phenomena of Man'' (New York 1959).
14. Hajime Nakamura, ''A Comparative History of Ideas''.
★
Guy Ankerl ''Coexisting Contemporary Civilizations: Arabo-Muslim, Bharati, Chinese, and Western.'' Geneva: INUPRESS, 2000, ISBN 2881550045.
★
J.F.C. Fuller. A
Military History of the Western World. Three Volumes. New York:
Da Capo Press, Inc., 1987 and 1988.
★
★ V. 1. From the earliest times to the
Battle of Lepanto; ISBN 0-306-80304-6.
★
★ V. 2. From
the defeat of the Spanish Armada to
the Battle of Waterloo; ISBN 0-306-80305-4.
★
★ V. 3. From the
American Civil War to the end of
World War II; ISBN 0-306-80306-2.
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