Protectionist Behaviours of Countries In Modern World

You think protectionist attitude is something like cultural conservatism for cultural values. This is valid for 18th and 19th centuries but todays protectionist behaviours of countries are depended on internet data flowing not only depended on cultural values. 

 

These protectionist behaviours are actually emerged from current political situation in world. Also the other major role player is companies which have been making big profits from internet usage, like Facebook, Google, Twitter etc. You might have seen some crucial events that happened like Cambridge Analytica data scandal (Wikipedia) which tarnished Facebook's reputation in internet sector. But the main problem for countries like Iran, Russia and China is these countries have a common problem which is these companies are placed in western countries and mostly in USA. As we everyday encounter that these countries have also certain problems with USA. China is a biggest competitor in international markets. Russia have always been seen big guy in the east threatens the western ideas. Iran is another case that it's activities are dangerous for Israel which is most important ally of western world in middle east and also Iran's anti-democratic manner to it's citizens. There are some examples about protectionist ideas. One of them is Nasrollah Pejmanfar, a conservative politician proposes criminalizing the use of virtual private networks and data tunnels that allow access to prohibited sites in order to protect Iranian users from "manipulation and false information." (Hein, 2020).

 

Basically, these reasons are significant reasons that those countries have protective manner. Due to these steps were taken, these countries are trying to implement their national applications or interfaces to serve their citizens. But also there is another reason why these countries take this case seriously that's because they do want to take advantage with control the external and internal media in country to country's own benefit. As a consequence, the internet has become a sphere where nation states have invented new methods of collecting, storing, and processing data gathered from the networks of individual users (Altug Yalcintas, 2020).

 

References

Altug Yalcintas, N. A. (2020, 03). Digital protectionism and national planning in the age of. Research Gate:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340034259_Digital_protectionism_and_national_planning_in_the_age_of_the_internet_the_case_of_Iran

Hein, S. v. (2020, 09 08). Iran's new attempt to introduce 'military control' over social networks. Retrieved from Deutsche Welle: https://www.dw.com/en/irans-new-attempt-to-introduce-military-control-over-social-networks/a-54858379

Wikipedia. Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook%E2%80%93Cambridge_Analytica_data_scandal

07/03/2021