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

[Platypus]

A place is Western if the West accepts it as such.

Pretty much. We can all basically agree that the west includes:

USA
Canada
Australia
New Zealand
Scandinavia
United Kingdom
Ireland
France
Benelux
Germany
Switzerland
Leichtenstein
Austria
Iberia
Monaco
Italy
San Marino

...anywhere I forgot?

Then there are a few nations that are almost always agreed upon (Greece, Israel, Malta, etc). But I think it would be a fair way of working it out; if 4/5ths of the 'universally agreed west' regard a nation as western, it is. The problem is that the question isn't important enough for the west to put its neck out and define itself.

While the West's culture owes much to the ancient Greeks, Greece is not really a Western country.  I'd include the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovenia, and Malta as part of the West.  The Baltic States, Slovakia, Hungary, and Croatia are part of the Western periphery in Europe.  They aren't fully Western, but they are more Western than Eastern.

I'd also include with that, i'm just trying to work out a list of the ones that absolutyely everyone can agree is the west.

Turkey should most certainly not be on that list if Australia and NZ aren't, btw.

Which one is partially in Europe, in NATO, has been a major power in Europe, and is actually west of India?

Which two aren't majority Muslim, are primarily ethnically European, speak a European language, and have the second and third highest standards of living in the world?

Australia and New Zealand might not be part of the universally agreed West, which is what I was trying to create in my list.  I find it remarkable that it isn't agreed that they aren't western, but apparently it isn't. What is certain, however, is that Turkey isn't part of the universally agreed upon west. Considering most of Turkey's history pre- WWI was that of the nation most likely to attack the West, and the greatest threat to the spread of ideals we consider Western throughout Europe, claiming that is deserves to be considered a core member of the grouping is ridiculous.

Turkey may be Western, but it isn't more so than Australia and New Zealand, for better or worse.

[viewit]

 Tnowacki, Poland absolutely is part of "Der Westen" now, obviously because of EU, NATO.  But 25 years ago it wasn't--neither were the GDR, Hungary, etc... Of course, that just shows how shallow political allignment is.  However, civilization is much deeper, and in that sense Poland was always part of The West (Abendland).  I think it can be argued that Russia and Greece are also part of the civilizational West, though they are more problematic--mostly due to the Eastern Orthodox religion, though with it still being Christianity, and their having connections to the Greco-Roman civilization they are also rather western.  Latin America certainly is without a doubt.  And if in some parts of Latin America indigenous traditions have survived (that are not particularly western), various corners of Europe are full of little folk traditions that are just as "non-Western" too (Baltic, Celtic folkways, etc...)--in that they are not Greco-Roman or Judaeo-Christian in origin.  Each Western country has a bit of its own local color.

[tnowacki]

I agree completely, except of Russia belonging to the West.