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- New to Ulaanbaatar April 2026
- Uchral Cabinet
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- Mining and Magnetism: The Repulsion Effect
- What Does the Rusal-Rio Case Actually Mean For Mongolia?
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Author Archives: JDierkes
2019 Mongolia Focus in Review
By Julian Dierkes Our blog is in its 9th year. We smashed through our 600th post this year. Most notably we were recognized through a Public Outreach Award from the Central Eurasian Studies Society. Mendee defended his PhD. I’d say, … Continue reading
New to Ulaanbaatar December 2019
By Julian Dierkes I’ve been keeping lists of things that are arriving to/disappearing from central Ulaanbaatar: June 2019 | April 2019 | December 2018 | August 2018 | October 2017 | June 2017 | May 2016 | December 2015 | May 2015 | May 2014 | October 2013 | October 2011. More informal … Continue reading
Posted in Change, City Planning, Curios, Fashion, Heritage, Museums, Social Change, Ulaanbaatar
Tagged Julian Dierkes
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Back to the 2008 Future in Voting?
By Enkhtsetseg D and Julian Dierkes After toying with the idea of a mixed electoral system, in which 50 seats were to be distributed based on the FPTP system and 26 seats to be distributed proportionally from an open party … Continue reading
Posted in Elections, Enkhtsetseg Dagva, Ikh Khural 2020, JD Democratization, Politics
Tagged Julian Dierkes
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Ever-Creative Electoral System Discussions
By Julian Dierkes Long-time readers of our blog (really committed readers are looking back on 8 1/2 years of analyses!) will know that I get very interested in elections and that many of my collaborators have also chipped on an … Continue reading
Posted in Constitution, Elections, Ikh Khural 2020, JD Democratization, Party Politics, Politics
Tagged Julian Dierkes
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Constitutional Amendments Adopted
By Julian Dierkes While some details remain curiously unclear (as is so frustratingly often the case with Mongolian legislation and reporting on it, the Ikh Khural approved a number of constitutional amendments on Nov 15. While these are subject to … Continue reading
Book Review S Ruhlmann “Inviting Happiness: Food Sharing in Post-Communist Mongolia”
By Jade Marie Richards Sandrine Ruhlmann. 2019. Inviting Happiness: Food Sharing in Post-Communist Mongolia. Leiden: Brill, 2019. 288pp. ISBN 978-90-04-41063-3 So much recent work in the anthropology of Mongolia focuses on broad scale politico-economic transformation, urbanisation or the divisive mining … Continue reading
CESS Public Outreach Award
The Central Eurasian Studies Society has awarded our blog their 2019 Public Outreach Award. Congrats to CESS’ Public Outreach awardee Mongolia Focus blog https://t.co/WhEMwkgbUB — CESS (@CESS_news) October 12, 2019 Thank you, @CESS_news, we’re so proud!#Mongolia #research pic.twitter.com/IrydpIogIC — Julian … Continue reading
Posted in Research on Mongolia
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Guest Post: Doping in Mongolian Wrestling
By Zorigtkhuu B Last year, I wrote a brief blog post about some of the political issues surrounding Mongolian wrestling. For example, military titles, associational rivalry, and doping, etc. This year’s wrestling tournament has become a hot topic for the … Continue reading
Posted in Naadam, Wrestling, Zorigtkhuu Bat-Erdene
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Guest Post: Don’t Forget the Ground Game
By David Chace You are in a rush for work, so you need to jog it. However, this means you need to beat the obstacle course outside. You need to weave through parked cars, ruts on the sidewalks and a … Continue reading
US Offensive toward Mongolia
By Julian Dierkes and Mendee Jargalsaikhan Suddenly, there has been a flurry of meetings between Mongolian and U.S. officials and, even more surprising, a flurry of official visits to Mongolia that looks likely to lead to a vice-presidential visit. The … Continue reading
US Interactions Not a Win for Mongolia
By Julian Dierkes Together with Mendee, I’ve tried to describe the recent flurry of US-Mongolia interactions. In brief, interactions are motivated by a US desire to counter China in its own backyard. For Mongolia, a strategic partnership with the US … Continue reading
Posted in Cashmere, China, Foreign Policy, International Relations, Mongolia and ..., Russia, SCO, United States
Tagged Julian Dierkes
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Special License Plates
By Julian Dierkes Okay, I confess, I’m a bit of a license plate geek, but only a little bit. Maybe this is one of those things that growing up in (West) Berlin did to me. While the West German cousins … Continue reading
National Pride Without Museums
By Julian Dierkes It’s tourist season in Mongolia again. Tourism has been discussed as a possible route to economic diversification, but also faces a number of challenges, for example short seasons and the lack of touring infrastructure. But during a … Continue reading
Posted in History, Museums, Nationalism, Society and Culture, Tourism, Ulaanbaatar
Tagged Julian Dierkes
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Change in the Countryside June 2019
By Julian Dierkes For some years, I have now taken notes about visible changes in Ulaanbaatar on my periodic visits. I’ve kept a similar list for countryside changes, somewhat more regular as extended visits to the countryside don’t come nearly … Continue reading
Tourism: Standardization in Diversification
By Julian Dierkes In June, I visited Mongolia as a tourist for the first time. Well, sort of. On my 26th visit to Mongolia, I accompanied a tour to provide some insights into contemporary Mongolia to complement a Mongolian tour … Continue reading