# Good and Bad Neighborhoods of the World **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 29, 2014, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-neighborhoods-of-the-world/699890 "2014-09-29T18:21:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![IMfez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f07891/32.png) [@IMfez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IMfez)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2014, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-neighborhoods-of-the-world/699890/1 "2014-09-29T18:21:35Z")
I heard this term applied to countries on a global scale, and thought it an interesting concept. What would you guys consider the good and bad neighborhoods of the world, places where countries are relatively benign towards one another vs hostile? I’ll give my rankings based on what I know: Good neighborhoods: Western Europe – The best South America North America Oceania Southeast Asia Bad neighborhoods: Eastern Europe and other Russian buffer zones South Asia Probably Africa (I honestly know very little about the place) The Worst Neighborhoods: East Asia (including South China Sea, East China Sea, Korean Peninsula) The Middle East – the worst Anyone know where Central Asia lies? Africa? The Caribbean? ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2014, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-neighborhoods-of-the-world/699890/2 "2014-09-30T06:40:00Z")
“East Asia” can’t possibly be considered one of the world’s worst neighborhoods all in all, seeing how it includes both Japan and South Korea. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2014, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-neighborhoods-of-the-world/699890/3 "2014-09-30T07:40:06Z")
I don’t think the OP’s rankings are to do with prosperity; they’re to do with “where countries are relatively benign towards one another vs hostile”. Presumably East Asia suffers because of the division of Korea, and the hostility of one Korean regime for the other, and to a lesser extent because of the tension between China and Japan and/or PRC and Taiwan. By contrast South America gets into the “good neighbourhood” category because, despite endemic poverty and social inequality, the states in the region aren’t generally hostile to one another. ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2014, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-neighborhoods-of-the-world/699890/4 "2014-09-30T08:50:13Z")
I dunno about South East Asia, there’ve been skirmishes between Thailand, Cambodia, so on. Minor, but not nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2014, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-neighborhoods-of-the-world/699890/5 "2014-09-30T15:33:06Z")
I don’t know why the OP put Western Europe as “the best”, compared to North America. The countries of Western Europe have been at war with each within living memory. The last war between countries on the North American continent was in the 1840’s. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2014, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-neighborhoods-of-the-world/699890/6 "2014-09-30T16:29:10Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > I don’t know why the OP put Western Europe as “the best”, compared to North America. > > The countries of Western Europe have been at war with each within living memory. > > The last war between countries on the North American continent was in the 1840’s. Probably because of the cooperation engendered by the European Union. That makes Western Europe a very “good neighborhood” in the present day. Not sure that makes it “the best,” but I’m an American, so I automatically think we’re the best. 😛 There are strong arguments for both sides, though I don’t feel any compulsion to declare one or the other the winner. (and a tip of the cowboy hat to [America’s Hat](http://satwcomic.com/awesome-hats)and [America’s Beard](http://satwcomic.com/denmark-s-gaydar).) ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2014, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-neighborhoods-of-the-world/699890/7 "2014-09-30T18:04:57Z")
If we’re going for friendly, non-violent and generally chilled-out, I’d say Scandinavia wins, edging out both the U.S. and continental Europe. ---
**Author:** ![IMfez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f07891/32.png) [@IMfez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IMfez)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-neighborhoods-of-the-world/699890/8 "2014-10-01T08:23:28Z")
Anyone care to comment on Africa or Central Asia? I put Western Europe above North America because of the tense situation at the Mexico America border. To be fair it is peaceful between state-level actors, so there is subjectivity in my ranking. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-neighborhoods-of-the-world/699890/9 "2014-10-02T11:44:13Z")
Is this “best” Western Europe the same one that includes N. Ireland and the Basque region? Just checking… Is the OP primarily concerned with wars _between_ countries? Because I’d think Oceania has western Europe handily beat there. Africa is … not a nice neighbourhood overall. But why does Europe, Asia and America get to be subdivided while Africa gets to be… Africa. Asia gets 4 fucking subdivisions! Africa is the second-largest continent - why’s it a monolith? ---
**Author:** ![IMfez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f07891/32.png) [@IMfez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IMfez)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-neighborhoods-of-the-world/699890/10 "2014-10-02T12:06:30Z")
You are free to section up Africa as you wish. This is a sandbox discussion, not an exam. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-neighborhoods-of-the-world/699890/11 "2014-10-02T12:14:38Z")
Africa is the size of the US and Mexico AND Europe AND China AND India AND there is still room for Japan. With 54 countries and over one billion people, it’s huge. Typically Africa is broken into North Africa, West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa and the Horn. Southern Africa has been the most stable in recent years, and the Horn I think has some of the most intractable issues (though Ethiopia is definitely on the rise.) Central Africa is always a mess but has a lot going for it. West Africa (Ebola aside) has some chronic fragility but for the most part gets by. East Africa has been a wildcard, and North Africa is dealing with some rough transitions. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-and-bad-neighborhoods-of-the-world/699890/12 "2014-10-02T19:59:03Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Is this “best” Western Europe the same one that includes N. Ireland and the Basque region? Just checking… Both places are pretty chilled out these days, no?