this is sort of a response to some things in kireikoori's post.
i'm not trying to be critical, just discuss, so i apologize if anything
sounds harsh.

you forgot Italy as being fascist.
Mussolini and fascist are practically synonymous.
while Germany too was clearly fascist, "nazism", the localized brand, & reservations, err, excuse me -
concentration camps, come to mind more readily than the f word.
(can anybody point me in the direction of some good books on WW2 era Japan & fascism. while i don't really doubt this term would apply, i more often hear the term "Japanese militarism" coupled with imperialism applying to Japan. --those two are clearly points of fascism)



"western" & "democracy"

it is a commonly held belief that "democracy" is a "western" concept.
putting aside the idea that "western" is an ideological construct to begin with,

what about the known fact that the authors of the US constitution borrowed
heavily from the Iroquois Confederacy, a grouping of 6 of N America's First Nations.
such ideas and practices have existed pre-contact with Europeans.
also, in many tribes/nations throughout the americas, the chief was not really a position that was so dominant as to be the equivalent of a king. it was rather Europeans in their thinking and/or wanting to deal with one or a small number of people that helped to contribute to the importance of a chief. --and the stressing of hierarchy, as the first settlers (the Indians) had much more egalitarian societies.

Much of this is somewhat fresh in my memory as I recently read the relevant chapters of "Lies My Teacher Told Me Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong"
by James W. Loewen "First Thanksgiving" and especially "Red Eyes" (this page has excerpts from the original 1995 edition. i am currently reading the updated 2007 edition.)

the Americas are/were only really considered "western" with regards to being settled by western Europeans. So what of the ideas of the many (still alive and living) cultures indigenous to the Americas? They are not really considered "western" and their democracy existed completely independent of ancient Greece which is touted as the birth place of "western" thought and the idea of democracy.



jokes:
maybe we only like the idea of democracy, but fail to practice it?
is "western" thought actually the idea of tricking people into believing
they are practicing benign actions?
take for example the British empire(dishonor is empire). the rulers of this society
claimed they were colonizing India in order to "civilize" the peoples living there.



lastly,
interesting that some might have drawn comparisons "between Shinto and Abrahamic/Judaic religion". I've not heard of this before and would be interested in reading them. Admittedly, I am rather naive about Shinto, but I've always heard of it compared to animist religions (not counting the state co-opted version of the Emperor and Sun Goddess, etc...). Also, I believe all religions have wisdom in them and are about peace and getting along as evidenced by the many variations of "treat others as you would have them treat you" present in almost every religion/belief system. I'm writing this because I want to put it that I am not trying to "separate" Shinto from Abrahamic/Judaic religion by placing it with other religions in some sort of artificial hu-(M)an-made hierarchy, because I believe there is much to be learned from various religions/beliefs from throughout the world, including Africa, China, East Timor, etc...

I "talk" too much. Gomenasai.