Western Europe is distinguished from Central Europe and
Eastern Europe by differences of history and culture rather than by geography. However, these boundaries of Europe are subject to
considerable overlap and fluctuation, which makes differentiation difficult. Thus the concept of Western Europe is associated
with liberal democracy; and its countries have been considered to
share many cultural, economic and political traditions with the United States
of America and Canada — which have received millions of Western European
settlers since the discovery of the New World.
Up to World War I, "Western Europe" was thought to comprise France, the British Isles and Benelux. These countries represented the democratic victors of both world wars; and their ideological approach was spread further east as a consequence,
in a process not unlike the ideological effect of the Napoleonic
Wars, when new ideas spread from revolutionary France.
During the Cold War, this ideological designation of Western Europe was
supplemented with the aspect of market economies in the West versus the planned
economies of Eastern Europe, reflecting the anti-Bolshevism that was aroused in Western Europe by the Russian Revolutions of 1917 and the remaining
opposition to the Soviet Union in general. Thus Western Europe came
to include both traditional democracies outside of NATO, as Finland, Sweden and Switzerland, and some market economy dictatorships, as
Portugal and Spain. This is also why NATO
members such as Greece and Turkey were
generally considered Western European even though they are geographically in the southeast. The border between Western and
Eastern Europe, the Iron Curtain, was securely defended.
Until the enlargement of the
European Union of 2004, Western Europe was sometimes associated with that Union,
although non-members such as Norway and Switzerland unquestionably were considered
parts of Western Europe. Today the connection to NATO or to the European Union increasingly may be perceived as historical. A common
understanding of Western Europe includes the following parts:
- the Nordic countries (Iceland, Norway, Sweden,
Finland, Denmark)
- the British Isles (United Kingdom and Ireland)
- the Benelux countries (Belgium, the
Netherlands, Luxembourg)
- Germany
- France and Monaco
- the Alpine countries (Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria)
- the Apennine peninsula (Italy, San Marino, Vatican City)
- the Iberian peninsula (Spain, Andorra, Portugal)
- in a political and economic context also Greece, Cyprus, Malta, and occasionally even Turkey.
It ought to be borne in mind that the concepts of Europe's division overlap. The Nordic countries being counted to
Western Europe does not at all hinder their also being considered part of Northern Europe. Similarly, the Alpine countries may be considered part of Central Europe, and Italy, the Iberian countries, Monaco, Greece and southern
France part of Southern Europe as well.
The Alpine country of Slovenia may by some be counted to Western Europe, similarly to how some would consider Estonia as a Nordic country, and
hence maybe also to Western Europe.
Further reading
- Bader, William B. "The Future of Area Studies: Western Europe." Society 22 (May-June 1985): 6-8. EJ 317 736.
- Baker, John A. "The North Atlantic Treaty Organization at 40." Social Education 53 (February 1989): 109-112. EJ 386
460.
- Bruce, Michael G. "Teaching For and About Europe." Phi Delta Kappan 65 (January 1984): 364-66. EJ 291 519.
- Bruce, Michael G. "Europe in European Curricula." Phi Delta Kappan 68 (March 1987): 551-52. EJ 349 197.
- Daltrop, Anne. Politics and the European Community. 2nd edition. New York: Longman, 1986.
- DePorte, Anton W. The Atlantic Alliance at 35. New York: Foreign Policy Association, 1984. ED 270 372.
- Gagnon, Paul. Democracy's Untold Story: What World History Textbooks Neglect. Washington, DC: American Federation of
Teachers, 1987. ED 313 268.
- Hallstein, Walter. Europe in the Making. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1972.
- Metcalf, Fay, and Catherine Edwards.Materials for Teaching about Europe: An annotated Bibliography for Educators.
Washington, DC: Atlantic Council of the United States, 1986. ED 272 439.
- Schuchart, Kelvin. "The European Economic Community." Social Studies 77 (January-February 1986): 19-22. EJ 335
130.
- Shennan, Margaret. "Goals for Teaching About Europe." The Social Studies 77 (January-February 1986): 8-12. EJ 335
127.
- Stillwell, Neil C. Teaching about Western Europe: A Resource Guide. Bloomington, IN: ERIC Clearinghouse for Social
Studies/Social Science Education, 1988. ED 302 494.
External link
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