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Yearly Archives: 2025
Zandanshatar Cabinet
By Julian Dierkes and Marissa J. Smith As we have done for cabinets since 2016 (Erdenebat 2016 | Khurelsukh 2017 | Khurelsukh 2020 | Oyun-Erdene 2021 | Oyun-Erdene 2022 | Oyun-Erdene 2023 | Oyun-Erdene 2024), we’re listing cabinet members below … Continue reading
Posted in Government, Mongolian People's Party, Politics
Tagged Julian Dierkes; Marissa Smith
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PM Zandanshatar
By Julian Dierkes So, Mongolia has a new prime minister. Parliament elected G Zandanshatar in the early hours of June 13. Initial reporting indicated that only 108 members were present, but it seems to have turned out that 108 members … Continue reading
The Mongolian People’s Party: A Glossary
By Marissa J. Smith As demonstrated by the still-unfolding process of presenting a new Prime Minister for confirmation by the Ikh Khural, it has become difficult to follow Mongolian politics without an understanding of the internal structure and processes of … Continue reading
Mongolia’s Next PM: Media Mentions of Possible PM Nominees
By Marissa J. Smith and Julian Dierkes With L Oyun-Erdene’s resignation as prime minister, obviously, there is a lot of speculation and media mentions of possible PM nominees whom the MPP might nominate to succeed him. Before we look at … Continue reading
Posted in Mongolian People's Party, Party Politics, Politics
Tagged Marissa Smith; Julian Dierkes
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End of the Oyun-Erdene Era?
By Julian Dierkes Of course, the one time, my frustration at endless speculation about political machinations and alliances actually gets to me, something happens, namely Prime Minister L Oyun-Erdene’s era appears to be ending. In the early morning of June … Continue reading
Posted in Democratic Party, Ikh Khural 2024, KhUN, Mongolian People's Party, Party Politics, Politics
Tagged Julian Dierkes
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Government Confusion
By Julian Dierkes A bit of confusion in Mongolia at the moment regarding the state of the coalition government and the fate of L Oyun-Erdene as prime minister. Last week, it was reported that a) the DP had been removed … Continue reading
Posted in Democratic Party, Government, Media and Press, Mongolian People's Party, Party Politics, Politics
Tagged Julian Dierkes
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Change in the Countryside 2025
By Julian Dierkes For some years, I have now traced visible changes in Ulaanbaatar on my periodic visits. I’ve kept a similar list for countryside changes, somewhat less regular as extended visits to the countryside don’t come nearly often enough … Continue reading
Assessing Academic Freedom Index Score
By Julian Dierkes I recently posted my description of what the Academic Freedom Index measures and how Mongolia has been scored. Is Mongolia’s decline on Academic Freedom Index real? Or, what is this decline measuring? How are we to understand … Continue reading
Posted in Academia, Global Indices, Higher Education, Research on Mongolia, Social Change
Tagged Julian Dierkes
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Mongolia Focus WhatsApp Channel
Yes, it’s the Meta Imperium, but we’ve created a Mongolia Focus WhatsApp channel. Follow the channel to receive notifications of new posts published here. For other ways to follow, see our Following page.
Posted in Reflection
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Guest Post: May Day by Natsagdorj
By Khishigtugs Amarbayasgalan Natsagdorj Dashdorj (1906–1937) is widely regarded as the founder of modern Mongolian literature. Natsagdorj was part of the first generation of Mongolian students sent abroad after the revolution (1921 revolution in Mongolia), and among the earliest to … Continue reading
Posted in Germany, History, Khishigtugs Amarbayasgalan, Literature, Reflection
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New to Ulaanbaatar April 2025
By Julian Dierkes I’ve been keeping lists of things that are arriving to/disappearing from central Ulaanbaatar: June-July 2024 | August 2023 | May 2023 | November 2022 | August 2022 | December 2019 | June 2019 | April 2019 | December 2018 | August 2018 | October 2017 | June … Continue reading
Plus ça change
By Julian Dierkes “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose” = The more things change, the more they stay the same. I feel like I experience perpetual déjà vu (yes, this is turning into a French post) in discussing … Continue reading
Posted in Constitution, Democracy, Governance, Government, Politics, Reflection
Tagged Julian Dierkes
6 Comments
Minegolia: A Curse or a Complex Reality?
By Bulgan Batdorj Note: This is a post I originally drafted in 2019 but never posted. I hesitated because my thinking was still evolving. Since then, my understanding has evolved, but I believe it is valuable to share this early … Continue reading
Posted in Bulgan Batdorj, Mining, Research on Mongolia, Uncategorized
Tagged Batdorj BULGAN
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Academic Freedom Index
By Julian Dierkes For some years, I have been collecting Mongolia’s score and rank on various global indices. I have also occasionally commented on some of these indices. Here, I want to focus on the Academic Freedom Index. #Mongolia score … Continue reading
Guest Post: The Centre for Law and Democracy’s Analysis of the Draft Law on Freedom of the Media
By Toby Mendel Background Mongolia adopted its Law on Media Freedom in 1998 (1998 Media Law) as a statement of its commitment to media freedom. The 1998 Media Law, however, has only four short articles which set out the following … Continue reading
Posted in Media and Press, Toby Mendel
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