Western world

The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to various nations and states in Western Europe, Northern America, and Australasia; with some debate as to whether those in Eastern Europe and Latin America also constitute the West. The Western world likewise is called the Occident (from Latin occidens 'setting down, sunset, west') in contrast to the Eastern world known as the Orient (from Latin oriens 'origin, sunrise, east').

Quotes

• Westward the course of empire takes its way;
     The first four acts already past,
  A fifth shall close the drama with the day:
     Time’s noblest offspring is the last.
  • George Berkeley, On the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in America (1752), st. 6

• The West is a series of institutions and values. The West is not a geographical place. Russia is European, but not Western. Japan is Western, but not European. ‘Western’ means rule of law, democracy, private property, open markets, respect for the individual, diversity, pluralism of opinion, and all the other freedoms that we enjoy, which we sometimes take for granted. We sometimes forget where they came from. But that’s what the West is.
  • Stephen Kotkin (March 11, 2022)

See also

• East–West dichotomy