Yearly Archives: 2019

The Likelihood of Political Renewal

Posted on April 22, 2019 by JDierkes

By Julian Dierkes Why I am generally optimistic about Mongolian developments, Mongolian politics presents a lot of challenges and the current state of affairs causes more despair than it has in the previous 12+ years that I’ve been paying attention. … Continue reading →

Posted in Constitution, Corruption, Democracy, Democratic Party, Foreign Policy, Human Rights, Ikh Khural 2020, Inequality, JD Democratization, Judiciary, Mining Governance, Mongolian People's Party, Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, Nationalism, Party Politics, Policy, Politics, Populism, Presidential 2021, Social Movements | Tagged Julian Dierkes | Leave a comment

Not the end of Democracy?

Posted on April 19, 2019 by JDierkes

By Julian Dierkes On March 27 2019, the Mongolian parliament passed legislation giving the National Security Council greater authority over judicial appointments and dismissals. This very sudden decision has caused a great deal concern among international observers of Mongolia and … Continue reading →

Posted in Constitution, Governance, JD Democratization, Judiciary, Law, Public Service | Tagged Julian Dierkes | Leave a comment

World Class Oyu Tolgoi Safety

Posted on April 14, 2019 by JDierkes

By Julian Dierkes {Disclosure: I was invited to visit Oyu Tolgoi by the company and enjoyed their hospitality.} In press releases, but also media accounts, Oyu Tolgoi is often described as a “world-class” deposit. To the extent that this meant … Continue reading →

Posted in Gobi, Oyu Tolgoi | Tagged Julian Dierkes | Leave a comment

Toward a Transition Away from Coal

Posted on April 3, 2019 by JDierkes

By Sandeep Pai and Julian Dierkes In November 2018, Tsenguun T and Aldarsaikhan T wrote a guest post describing the Mongolian podcast scene. Since then, more podcasts have sprung up, for example, recent guest post co-author Boldsaikhan S is involved … Continue reading →

Posted in Air Pollution, China, Climate Change, Development, Diversification, Energy, Foreign Investment, Infrastructure, Podcast, Policy, Policy, Renewables, Sandeep Pai, Social Media | Tagged Julian Dierkes | Leave a comment

The Beginning of the End of Democracy?

Posted on March 27, 2019 by JDierkes

By Julian Dierkes and Boldsaikhan Sambuu Mongolians have voiced strong reactions to the proposal and the passage of a series of amendments to the laws governing the appointment and dismissal of judges, the Prosecutor General, and the Head of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Boldsaikhan Sambuu, Corruption, Governance, JD Democratization, Judiciary, Law, Public Service | Leave a comment

Guest Post: China’s Belt and Road Initiative

Posted on March 12, 2019 by JDierkes

By Connor Judge and Sanchir Jargalsaikhan Myriad conferences, expos, forums and articles have recently elevated the profile of acronyms “OBOR” and “BRI” to a par with “blockchain,” the latter being a ground-breaking technology that few fully understand, but which has … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Connor Judge, Foreign Policy, Infrastructure, International Relations, Mongolia and ..., Policy, Russia, Sanchir Jargalsaikhan, SCO | Leave a comment

Challenges Arising from Growing National Herd

Posted on February 27, 2019 by JDierkes

By Julian Dierkes On an August 2018 trip to Western Mongolia, I heard a lot of countryside reports that the value of animal products, especially meat, is rapidly declining, exacerbating poverty, unemployment, migration to towns and cities, etc. When you … Continue reading →

Posted in Countryside, Diversification, Flooding, Grassland, Health, Infrastructure | Tagged Julian Dierkes | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Hip Hop in Politics

Posted on February 18, 2019 by JDierkes

By Paweł Szczap With hip-hop culture being often highly saturated with political and social commentaries, so far I have mostly concentrated on the presence of nationalist discourse within the Mongolian hip-hop scene. There are loads of material for research and … Continue reading →

Posted in Ikh Khural 2016, Music, Music, Party Politics, Paweł Szczap, Politics, Pop Culture, Presidential 2017, Ulaanbaatar, Youth | Leave a comment

Charm Offensive: Chinese Ambassador’s Address on the State of the Sino-Mongolian Relationship

Posted on February 1, 2019 by mendee

By Mendee Jargalsaikhan Amidst the New Year’s celebrations and political tumult in Ulaanbaatar (South China Morning Post, December 6, 2018), Chinese Ambassador Xing Haiming published a long seasonal greeting in the Mongolian media (Montsame, December 21, 2018). His message to … Continue reading →

Posted in Banking, China, Cultural Diplomacy, Eurasia Daily Monitor | Tagged MENDEE Jargalsaikhan | Leave a comment

From Transparency to a Participatory Revolution

Posted on January 15, 2019 by JDierkes

By Julian Dierkes and Damdinnyam G [Mongolian Version: “МОНГОЛЧУУД: Ил тод байдлаас зѳв оролцооны хувьсгал руу…“] Even by the standards of Mongolian politics, the last two months have been eventful. Scandals, no confidence votes, demonstrations… one might think it’s an … Continue reading →

Posted in Corruption, Damdinnyam Gongor, Law, Politics, Public Opinion, Social Change, Social Movements, Taxes | Tagged Julian Dierkes | 1 Comment

Embassies in Ulaanbaatar on Social Media

Posted on January 7, 2019 by JDierkes

By Julian Dierkes A recent post about the Twitter accounts of foreign embassies in Ulaanbaatar proved to be more popular than I had anticipated, so I’ll turn that into a blog post below. As far as I can tell, nine … Continue reading →

Posted in Australia, Canada, Digital Diplomacy, EU, Foreign Policy, Germany, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and ..., Russia, Turkey, United States | Tagged Julian Dierkes | Leave a comment