When Robert C. Knuepfer Jr. learned last month that the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs was awarding him the prestigious Order of Merit, he was in Mexico in an area with limited phone service. He was about to respond when his cellphone signal died. That may seem like an unfortunate occurrence, but when Knuepfer first went to Hungary in 1992, having faulty phone service would have been a luxury. “There was a 17-year waitlist for a telephone,” Knuepfer said about post-Cold War Hungary. Because the …