NationStates

How much Western influences has your nation adopted?

Did your nation adopt Western ways of government, economics, administration, etc., or even go as far as adopting Western culture, such as art, clothing, way of life, or more?

For example, the Chen Dynasty has remained very traditional, and still sees Western ways as barbaric in many aspects. Christianity is the only major aspect of the Western world that the nation has adopted, but other than that, culture remains very closely aligned with how it was for the past thousands of years. The government remains very similar to how it was as well, with the Mandate of Heaven establishing the legitimacy of the Emperor. However, Western ideas such as a legislative body in the government has found its way into the Dynasty over the years, and Western-inspired reforms are made every once in a while, to weed out corruption and inefficiency.

A few scenes from the Chen Dynasty:


A busy market in a town.


A skyscraper as seen from a park.


The Chinese interpretation of Christ in his throne.

Just a note, in this context Westernized does not mean Modernized, you can still be modern without adopting western ideals.

We have moved passed the idea of west and east.

Not very westernised. Ziyoustan retains it's ancient customs and beliefs, and has had very little western influence.

Vovinum wrote:We have moved passed the idea of west and east.

Culturally counts. Notice how most of the world today regards western suits and clothing as normal?

We're like a blend, similar to RL Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. You can find a lot of Westernized influences in our nation, but also a lot of traditional culture is kept.

The GWO is similar to Russia.

It's culturally western, functions as a western state, believes in the rule of law, and is cosmopolitan. However, it adopts eastern traditions of strength, detests western progressivism, and is anti-democratic. At the same time, it emulates the old western powers with blatant colonialism and disrespect for what it deems unworthy nations.

I guess, really, you could say it's too west to be west.

Around 85-90% Westernized. We were founded on the basis of a Swedish colony, and co-ruled with the United States of America, so there. However, we also have a Japanese populace (around 14% of the populace), and even that is Westernized, but it keeps traditional aspects.

If you want an easier description, grab a huge chunk of Sweden. Then grab a small chunk of Japan. Fuse them together. And you have Verdiga.

We're very Westernised!

We are literally based upon the USA (albeit one where the CSA annexed it), guess how Westernized we are?

As little as possible, and even that's pushing it for many Kiravians. Kiravia belongs to Coscivian civilisation, not Western civilisation, and has been able to modernise in terms of technology and economics without assimilating into globalised Western culture.

Instead of the Latin alphabet and Arabic numerals, Kiravia uses the Iatic script. Our language is unrelated to any European language and contains comparatively few loanwords from them, even in scientific or technical fields. Kiravian astronomers divide the night sky into regions based on traditional Coscivian constellations rather than classical European ones, and Kiravian biologists used a High Coscivian system of trinomial nomenclature for taxonomy rather than the Latin binomial system.

In terms of civics, the Kiravian legal system is derived from ethnic customary law and the legal system of the Coscivian Empire, and is unrelated to Western common law and civil law. Though we are a constitutional republic, we trace this political system back to the Pre-Imperial period of Coscivian civilisation rather than to the European Enlightenment. Our political culture is based on Shaftonist philosophy's notions of civic duty, natural rights (different from Western "human rights"), subsidiarity, and sphere sovereignty. The Western divisions between "Left and Right", tied to the development of capitalism in Europe, are baffling to Kiravians, as is the notion of a teleologically "progressive" direction of history.

Instead of metric or another Western system of measurement, Kiravians use the Coscivian cènet system and a variety of customary ethnic units for all purposes except the military (which uses metric). The Coscivian calendar and system of timekeeping are very different from the Western system, making use of an intercalary month, an eight-day week, different units of time shorter than a day (1 þorr, for example, equals about 9 minutes), and different divisions of the year into seasons based on local weather patterns. While a 24-hour (marr) day has been adopted for civil purposes in most urban areas, rural Kiravians continue to divide the day into 20 marr.

Kiravia conserves its Coscivian heritage in art, architecture, and literature. The Coscivian literary style differs very much from the Western, and its key works, such as the Ancient Helscan monologues, the Shaftonist classics, and the epic poems of the Second Empire form a millennia-old canon that is seen as the cultural core of Coscivian and Kiravian identity. Coscivian Historicism, a variety of architectural styles that pay homage to the Coscivian Empire, is the leading school of architecture, alongside Coscivian Modernism, which approximates Western modern architecture with some key differences. Kiravian folk/ethnic and classical music have their own inventory of instruments and techniques and a unique system of notation.

The Chen Dynasty wrote:For example, the Chen Dynasty has remained very traditional, and still sees Western ways as barbaric in many aspects. Christianity is the only major aspect of the Western world that the nation has adopted

Kiravia is very much the same in both respects. Christianity was introduced to Coscivian civilisation by Irish and Scottish missionaries in the 8th century anno Domini (the late 19900s in the Coscivian calendar), and was present in Kiravia from the earliest moments of Coscivian colonisation. Because of its long history in Kiravia and its close integration with Coscivian philosophy, custom, and lifestyle, Kiravians do not view Christianity as inherently Western. A large minority of Kiravians follow the Coscivian pre-Christian monotheïstic faiths or syncretise aspects of these faiths with Christianity.

Many practices of contemporary Western civilisation, such as abandonment of monogamy and religion, materialism and consumerism, the rise of totalising ideologies, libertinism and moral relativism, and the loss of kinship, ethnic, local, and national identity are seen as a descent into barbarism. Kiravians also tend to frown on the child-centricity of Western families, careerism, and the rising role of emotion in Western public life.

To say Rajnostan is Westernized would be a lie. Rajnostan is as anti-western as can be.

We are a Western country. Although our culture is distinctive in many respects due to our geographic isolation from the rest of the Western world.

Kasterborous Gallifrey retains many of its traditional aspects, however, it has been influenced slightly by the western world. This can be seen in the adoption of English as Gallifrey's national language. To say that the Kasterborous has been influenced greatly by western powers would be a lie, for Gallifrey has, likewise, been influencing many other nations as well, serving as WA Delegate and Honorary Supreme Chancellor to the Cyberius Confederation.

Technically we are completely western as we were once part of the United States before the second Civil War. But since the war we have developed beyond the identification of west and east and adopted a view we call Centralism or Equatorist. Which sees different values and traditions from west and east merged together.

Most of our citizens are of polish decent. It occupied an odd spot in Europe where it was constantly invaded by armies from both the east and west. Mongols from the east, Germans from the west, Muslims from the south, and swedes from the north. Poland has learned to adapt the best bits of each culture into it's own culture.

Similarly, Vudnians adapt quite well to new cultures that come along. Most of our citizens have some Polish ancestry, and Polish is the majority culture. But people came from all over the world to be in Vudnia, so we also have a global culture.

There is no inherent scale to measure westernization, but I'd say we're pretty much westernized.

Very, just look at my name

Aikoland wrote:We're like a blend, similar to RL Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. You can find a lot of Westernized influences in our nation, but also a lot of traditional culture is kept.

^ I'm being lazy, so I'll quote this and make it my own.

/stealing!

Arnevia is extremely western in nature, though with a healthy dose of Scandinavian System thrown in. Even though Arnevia is fairly close to the equator... In the southern hemisphere...

Sidhae have their own distinct culture, evolved partly from synthesis of Western and East Asian cultures, and partly from deliberate emulation of Old Terra's most famous warrior civilizations.

While a human would recognize Sidh culture as having predominantly-Western origins, the East Asian influences are showing as well. As some sociologists would aptly put it, "Sidh ways are outwardly Western, and inwardly Asian", meaning that while the outward manifestations of Sidh culture are largely Western, the essence of the culture itself is more Asian.

This is patently showing in the Sidh cultural emphasis on hierarchy, conformity, discipline and collectivism, values more typical to East Asian cultures than in the individualistic and liberal West.

We are the West...and by that, I mean the complete, full-blown West. Aside from being the successor state to the United States, we're also the ones who gobble up Eastern cultures and traditions as a tasty snack, leaving them with shallow consumerism and a taste for our own lifestyle. We're the ones who will invade you if you don't give up those resource fields. We're the ones who will topple your democracy and replace it with a brutal dictator if you even flirt with Socialism. We're the ones who hand over all control to those blasted Jews. Fear us!

Westernized? We INVENTED westernization. On Kerbin, Blorbs was the first 'westernized' nation, already having a democracy and western style culture in the very early 1400s (1401 specifically), with much more freedoms, diversity, and quality of life compared to the other nations (Specifically Orbs, which is directly above Blorbs).

However, on Kerbin 'Westernization' isn't what its called, because it has nothing to do with the west or the east. When we were first 'westernizing', there were still lots of unwesternized nations directly above us, that didn't westernize until the 18-1900s. Here, its simply called Modernization, as there is no specific 'area' of the world that is most modernized.

Also, if there was a percentage scale, we would be 100%. In the 1400s we would be about 30% (Compared to 0-5% on average), during the 1600s we would be about 40% (Compared to 10%), during the 1700s about 55% (Compared to 30%, the point in which a nation becomes 'westernized' enough to be called partially westernized), 1800s 65% (Compared to 40%), 1900s 80%(60%), and back to now, 100%, with an average now of 90%.

Capitalisms best friend wrote:Very, just look at my name

Being capitalist doesnt make you instantly western, and neither does not being capitalst make you not westernized! Like our neighbors to the nort, Orbs, they were always behind us in freedoms, culture, and everything else, however they are capitalist and we aren't.

Rajnostan wrote:To say Rajnostan is Westernized would be a lie. Rajnostan is as anti-western as can be.

Being westernized is beyond hating western nations, as its now just a sign of 'How modern is your country?'

Even if you hate the west you can still be westernized.

Political practices in the Republic resemble those of the West, to an extent, but otherwise the two are dissimilar.

Our military was modeled after Western armies in 1800 and a parliamentary system was established. one of our provinces Hoishu is 70% christian and has risen up five times to try and gain independence. Western clothing is common in cities but traditional clothing is still worn by most rural people out in the countrysides.