Author Archives: JDierkes

About JDierkes

Research on Mongolia for over 20 years, particular focus on mining policy and democratization. Princeton-trained sociologist. Dean, School of Social Sciences, Univ of Mannheim.

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 | 6 Comments

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

Posted in Academia, Global Indices, Higher Education, Social Change | Tagged | 1 Comment

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 | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Noorog.mn, Youth Media Staff Detained for Unclear Charges

By Dulamkhorloo Baatar and Unumunkh Jargalsaikhan You may remember me from my previous two-part blog post about the proposed Press Freedom bill (Draft Bill | Analysis and Outlook). This time, I am addressing you with a yet gloomier picture on … Continue reading

Posted in Dulamkhorloo Baatar, Media and Press, Unumunkh Jargalsaikhan, Youth | Leave a comment

Guest Post: More to Know about the Proposed Press Freedom Bill – Analysis and Outlook

By Dulamkhorloo Baatar I have recently written about the context and content of the proposed new Press Freedom law. Here, I will add some analyses and a sense of the draft’s chance of adoption. Why are we concerned? “The draft … Continue reading

Posted in Dulamkhorloo Baatar, Media and Press | 2 Comments

Guest Post: What you should know about Mongolia’s proposed Press Freedom bill

By Dulamkhorloo Baatar After 27 years, Mongolia takes another stab at passing a new Press Freedom Bill. The bill was submitted to Parliament for discussion in late January 2025 and is expected to be discussed as soon as the Parliamentary … Continue reading

Posted in Dulamkhorloo Baatar, Media and Press | 3 Comments

Road Numbering

By Julian Dierkes I do really like my Mongolia countryside drives, whether I am along for the ride as a passenger or driving myself.   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Julian Dierkes (@jbdierkes) One of … Continue reading

Posted in Countryside, Curios, Tourism, Transportation | Tagged | Leave a comment

Khurelsukh at UN General Assembly

By Julian Dierkes, Alexander Morrow and Anshika Srivastava In 2021, Pres. U Khurelsukh spoke at the UN General Assembly for the first time as president. He has returned every year since then. Unlike his immediate predecessor, Kh Battulga, he is … Continue reading

Posted in Alexander Morrow, Anshika Srivastava, Foreign Policy, International Relations, Mongolia and ..., Peacekeeping, UN | Tagged | 2 Comments

Guest Post: Mongolian Hoops Dreams — Creation of Soft Power Through Basketball

By Benjamin Nuland Basketball was introduced to Mongolia in the 1960s by the Russians and Chinese.  More recently, basketball has become Mongolia’s most popular sport, but Mongolians’ associations are primarily American. This fascination lives under the halo of the NBA … Continue reading

Posted in Benjamin Nuland, Curios, Pop Culture, Sports, United States | Leave a comment

Change in the Countryside June 2024

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

Posted in Change, Countryside, Curios | Tagged | 1 Comment

How Unfortunate: Putin Visits Mongolia

By Julian Dierkes Once again, geopolitical realities are catching up with Mongolia and there is very little the government of Mongolia can do about it, even if it wanted to. Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin will be visiting Ulaanbaatar to commemorate … Continue reading

Posted in Foreign Policy, Mongolia and ..., Russia | Tagged | Leave a comment

More on Oyun-Erdene’s Cabinet

By Julian Dierkes and Bulgan B Marissa Smith has already provided an overview of the new cabinet. Here, we’re adding some more information in cabinet members as we had done for previous cabinets. (new cabinet members in bold, if no … Continue reading

Posted in Democratic Party, Government, Ikh Khural 2024, KhUN, Mongolian People's Party, Party Politics, Politics | Tagged | 1 Comment

Guest Comment: Mongolia’s Democratic Party Gambit into Government

By Sugar Munkhtsooj The Mongolian parliamentary elections of 2024, the first since constitutional amendments increased the number of parliamentarians from 76 to 126, concluded in June with results that largely aligned with predictions from pundits and pollsters. As expected, the … Continue reading

Posted in Democratic Party, Government, Ikh Khural 2024, Party Politics, Politics, Sugar Munkhtsooj | Leave a comment

CWGP and National Coalition Results

By Julian Dierkes Beyond the DP’s success, the second great surprise (to me) of the election results was that the Civil Will Green Party re-entered parliament with four seats and the National Coalition gained four seats on its first attempt. … Continue reading

Posted in Civil Will Green Party, Elections, Ikh Khural 2024, National Coalition, Party Politics | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guest Post: A free but not a Fair Election: It Was All About Money

By Bat-Orgil Altankhuyag, Batkhishig Gankhuyag Mongolia recently conducted its tenth competitive election since 1990 in June 2024 (the first multi-party elections). In general, various electoral observation reports, including the one conducted by OSCE-ODIHR, suggest that the 2024 parliamentary election was … Continue reading

Posted in Bat-Orgil Altankhuyag, Batkhishig Gankhuyag, Civil Will Green Party, Democratic Party, Elections, Governance, Ikh Khural 2024, KhUN, Mongolian People's Party, National Coalition, Party Politics, Politics | Leave a comment