Is "Latin America" part of the "west"?

[Silent Hunter]

I wouldn't call anywhere south of the Mexican border "The West".

[Silent Hunter]

Well, you can read my previous post. I basically view the West as a set of institutions which historically have distinct cultural and geographical connotations (though most of these are not particularly white or western - it's mostly Jews and Greeks, after all) but that do not have those today.

To a broad extent, I agree.

[Silent Hunter]

Ancestry is a reasonable test of whiteness, I would think; those of predominantly European ancestry are white. Obviously Jews are a bit problematic in this paradigm (to the best of my knowledge, Jews of European ancestry would thereby be counted at white and Jews of non-European ancestry not), but they are not predominant in any of the areas in question.

This gets complex, though. You've got various sub-groups of "white". An Italian person looks considerably different from a British one; you can reasonably spot a Russian from a French person.

[Silent Hunter]

There are some common criteria among modern "Western" countries:
* Membership of NATO and/or European trading blocs.
* Broadly pro-US foreign policy.
* Use of a Latin-based language that was not introduced by sea-faring colonialists.
* Being broadly "Christian" and "white"
* A high level of PPP and a near 100% literacy rate.
* A decent sewage system.
* Greco-Roman based legal systems.
* Being located in Europe or North America.
* Reasonably low crime rates.
* A temperate climate.
* Not being a former communist country.
* Being an electoral democracy.

However, having one or more of these does not make a state "Western". Not having one does not exclude someone.

My view on the disputable cases:
* Japan: No. It's culturally different, it doesn't use a Latin language and it's not Christian.,
* Mexico: No, it's Latin-based language was introduced by colonialists and it's still pretty poor. Plus the crime rate.
* Brazil: No, for the same reasons as Mexico. Along with the climate.
* Russia: No. Not a Latin-based language, most of it's in Asia and it certainly does not see itself as Western.
* Poland: Yes; NATO and EU member. First to abandon communism.
* Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Yes, for the same reasons as Poland. They weren't part of the USSR when it was originally created as well.
* Slovenia: Yes, NATO and EU member.
* Romania: No, too poor.
* Bulgaria: No, see Romania. It also uses Cyrillic.
* Greece: Yes, NATO and EU member.
* Argentina: Maybe.

Ultimately, it's a matter of "self-definition", of course.