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Sharing: Countries in Transition

© Caroline Baker

Recently, I had the unique opportunity to speak with Dr. Sam Vaknin, a published author and Internet enthusiast in Macedonia. Dr. Vaknin has lived throughout the area known as the "Countries in Transition", much of the Middle East and the Baltic states. Through his experience, he has offered to share some of his perspectives on where these countries are at in terms of Internet development:

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SAM: Though the countries in transition are far from being an homogenic lot, there are a few denominators common to their Internet experience hitherto:

1. Internet invasion

SAM: The penetration of the Internet in the countries in transition varies from country to country - but is still very low even by European standards, not to mention by American ones. This had to do with the lack of infrastructure, the prohibitive cost of services, an extortionist pricing structure, computer illiteracy and luddism (computerphobia). Societies in the countries in transition are inert (and most of them, conservative or traditionalist) - following years of central mis-planning. The Internet (and computers) are perceived by many as threatening - mainly because they are part of a technological upheaval which makes people redundant.

2. The rumor mill
SAM: All manner of instant messaging - mainly the earlier versions of IRC - played an important role in enhancing social cohesion and exchanging uncensored information. As in other parts of the world - the Internet was first used to communicate: IRC, MIRC e-mail and e-mail fora were - and to a large extent, are - all the rage.

CAR: Can you be more specific as to what types of information have been exchanged? Has this changed how the governments work? When you say "social cohesion" you mean cohesion with whom?

SAM: The IRC was (and is) used mainly to exchange political views and news and to engage in inter-personal interactions. The media in countries in transition is notoriously unreliable. Decades of official indoctrination and propaganda left people reading between (real or imaginary) lines. Rumours and gossip always substituted for news and the Internet was well suited to become a prime channel of dissemination of conspiracy theories, malicious libel, hearsay and eyewitness accounts. Instant messaging services also led to an increase in the number (though not necessarily in the quality) of interactions between the users - from dating to the provision of services, the Internet was enthusiastically adopted by a generation of alienated youth, isolated from the world by official doctrine and from each other by paranoia fostered by the political regime. The Internet exposed its users to the west, to other models of existence where trust and collaboration play a major role. It increase the quantity of interaction between them. It fostered a sense of identity and community. The Internet is not ubiquituous in the countries in transition and, therefore, its impact is very limited. It had no discernible effect on how governments work in this region. Even in the USA it is just starting to effect political processes and be integrated in them.

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