Differences and Distinctive Features of Europe and US in Understanding International Issues

“West” is a frequently heard word. But does such an entity with such features in our mind does really exist? Can the earth be so classified so easily and a diversified and different group of countries be included in a fully similar group? This article tries to find out the points of proximity and similarity of west European countries and the US, finding out their civilizational, political and historical commonalities. There are, however, important differences between West Europe and the US to the extent that the two hubs of power been in tension rather than hostility position. The tensions are worth scrutiny from three main points of view: West-west competition, difference in the economic structure and difference in the political system. The tensions used to be temporarily discarded in certain historical junctions on the ground to get united in campaign against fascism or communism. Now, expanded European Union tries to contain them and despite all these efforts, they have been evident in various historical junctions and even in certain cases resulted in playing with zero integration of the member countries of the block.