I wouldn't give full credit to the USA. First, I would give a lot of credit to the UK. Because of their (former) empire English became a dominant language in the world, something that has been vastly strengthened by the USA due to its current dominance in the world.
You misunderstand. I wasn't giving full credit to the US, though I do think that they deserve a rather large share of it. I was simply pointing out that the "west" won the culture war.
Second it totally depends on that country's culture, its neighbours and its attitude across the border. If you take the Netherlands: we're a very adaptable country. My father for example works for Tata Steel: when they go to the factories in the UK they speak English, when they go for business to Germany they speak German.
Of course, there are businessmen in the US that can speak multiple languages. Frequently, they don't have to. When I travel to Germany, I can speak English nearly anywhere. Indeed, I know some folks who live and work in Germany and who don't speak any German at all because English is just fine.
Most documentaries and all movies that are being broadcasted here are in their original language (mainly English) with subtitles (and in the past almost all cartoons were in English as well), a lot of products that are being sold here are also in English and most Universities give college in English - focusing on the international aspect and also trying to attract international students. Being able to communicate with others is considered important by a lot of Dutch and because English is sort of the lingua franca in the world a huge amount of the population has English as its second language. I think it was estimated about 86% a couple of years ago.
How different this is in for example France, where they take the effort of making up a French version of every new popular English word (they do not know words like email and hash-tag). Everything they do is in French, even up to the point that the number one complaint from French tourists in the Netherlands is the lack of enough Dutchmen that speak French. They just expect everyone to speak their language.
Yeah, but the French are silly in this regard. Despite their government-enforced French quotas, most of the people there speak English just fine.
Governments in Europe aren't based on those of the USA, the one of the USA is partially based on those on Europe. I actually recall reading somewhere that the USA constitution and government has quite some bits in common with that what the Dutch Republic had. Although this couldn't be confirmed as fact, there were quite some similarities.
My point was that the governments of the world have largely moved toward the "western" way of doing things. Constitutions, parliaments, presidents and prime ministers, elections. There are some notable exceptions (China), but the trend is clear and, I think irreversible. If we're looking at the ideology aspect of a cultural victory in Civ V, then Freedom surely won.
Most European governments are still based of those formed in the 19th century and that have been reformed/adjusted over time. I don't recall a European country that ever had the situation in where the majority would vote for a president but where the other guy actually takes office (Bush- Al Gore anyone?). Heck, we don't even get to choose our prime minister. After the war countries adopted their previous system and made adjustments if necessarily.
Yeah... I mean, for all the flaws in the US system, I still can't find one that's really better. So many European countries still have
Kings of all things! One entire house of the British parliament is made up of unelected knights, peers, and religious figures. How absurd!
Nevertheless, the majority of the government is still elected and representative.
USA influence became big because A - people loved it being liberated. B - a common enemy: the Soviet union. With the USA as our big buddy standing behind our backs a new war in Europe was prevented and communism in western Europe was crushed to the point of never recovering.
I mean, we did kind of save Europe. But the US was on a clear path toward superpower status before then. Who was going to stop us? Canada?
The only valid point would be about movies and products, but you shouldn't underestimate the influence that other countries also have on the US. Like the Pizzeria on the corner that you pass by while driving in your Honda to the kebab store next to the Irish pub
Eh, there are far more American fast food stores throughout the world than there are Irish pubs! Anyway, I had never realized just how widespread our media was until I started traveling. American TV, music, and movies are
everywhere. We get some foreign media here in the US (especially British rock music and Japanese anime), but it's not nearly on the same scale.
This is all off-topic and silly, though. The "west" won the culture war and Prora is lame. Motherland Calls forever!