Western Bloc

The Western Bloc is an informal, collective term for countries that were officially allied with the United States during the Cold War of 1947–1991. While the NATO member states, in Western Europe and Northern America, were pivotal to the bloc, it included many other countries, in the broader Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa with histories of anti-Soviet, anti-communist and, in some cases anti-socialist, ideologies and policies. As such, the bloc was opposed to the political systems and foreign policies of communist countries, which were centered on the Soviet Union, other members of the Warsaw Pact, and usually the People's Republic of China. The name "Western Bloc" emerged in response to and as the antithesis of its Communist counterpart, the Eastern Bloc. Throughout the Cold War, the governments and the Western media were more inclined to refer to themselves as the "Free World" or the "First World", whereas the Eastern bloc was often referred to as the "Communist World" or less commonly the "Second World".

1947–1991 Western Bloc associations

NATO

* Indicates founding member state

Five Eyes

•  Australia
•  Canada
•  New Zealand
•  United Kingdom
•  United States

ANZUS

•  Australia
•  New Zealand
•  United States

Anti-Soviet communist or socialist states (until 1989)

• China (from 1961)
•  Democratic Kampuchea (from 1978)
  •  Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (from 1982)
•  Socialist Republic of Romania (from 1964)
•  Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (from 1948)

Compact of Free Association

•  Marshall Islands
•  Federated States of Micronesia
•  Palau
•  United States

METO, Baghdad Pact, CENTO (until 1979)

•  Pahlavi Iran (until 1979)
•  Kingdom of Iraq (until 1958)
•  Pakistan (until 1979)
•  Turkey (until 1979)
•  United Kingdom (until 1979)

Rio Treaty

SEATO

•  Australia
•  Kingdom of Cambodia (1953–1970) (until 1956)
  •  Khmer Republic (1970–1975)
•  France
•  Kingdom of Laos (until 1975)
•  New Zealand
•  Pakistan
•  Philippines
•  South Vietnam (until 1975)
•  Thailand
•  United Kingdom
•  United States

Middle East/North Africa Region

Asia, Southeast Asian, and Oceania Partners

Others

•  Cyprus
•  Ethiopian Empire (before 1974)
•  Khmer Republic (1970–1975)
• South Africa
•  West Berlin
•  Zaire

Post-1991 Western-aligned associations

NATO

* Indicates pre-1991 member state

Major non-NATO ally (MNNA)

Middle Eastern Partners

Asia, South East Asian, and Oceania Partners

Inter-American Partners

Quadrilateral Security Dialogue

•  United States
•  India
•  Australia
•  Japan

Others

•  Azerbaijan
•  Austria
•  Belarus (1991–1994)
•  Bosnia and Herzegovina
•  Cyprus
•  Georgia
•  Ireland
•  Kosovo
•  Malta
•  Moldova
•  Russia (1991–1999)
•  Ukraine (from 2014)

See also

Notes

Sources

• Matloff, Maurice. Makers of Modern Strategy. Ed. Peter Paret. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1971. 702.
• Kissinger, Henry. Diplomacy. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994. 447,454.
• Lewkowicz, Nicolas. The United States, the Soviet Union and the Geopolitical Implications of the Origins of the Cold War New York and London: Anthem Press, 2018.