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.

Initial Campaign Impressions

Posted on June 7, 2017 by JDierkes

By Julian Dierkes After a first full day of campaigning, here are some very quick, superficial impressions of the presidential election campaign. These are based largely on Twitter and some emailing, as I am about to get on a plane … Continue reading →

Posted in Elections, Nomadism, Presidential 2017, Social Media | Tagged | Leave a comment

New President, New Foreign Policy?

Posted on June 5, 2017 by JDierkes

By Julian Dierkes The Mongolian constitution assigns responsibility for international relations to the president. Ts Elbegdorj has been very active in this regard for the past eight years of his two terms as president. With the election campaign getting ready … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Foreign Policy, International Relations, Mongolia and ..., North Korea, Presidential 2017, Russia, South Korea, UN, United States | Tagged | 1 Comment

North Korea Turmoil = Mongolian International Relations Role

Posted on May 26, 2017 by JDierkes

By Julian Dierkes Some months ago, I speculated about the implications that a changed foreign policy under U.S. Pres. Trump might have for Mongolia. I was certainly right about one aspect: [W]ith Donald Trump becoming U.S.-president, I have to add a … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Foreign Policy, Mongolia and ..., North Korea, Ulaanbaatar Dialogue, United States | Tagged | Leave a comment

Regions, Nutag, & Voter Allegiances in the Presidential Election

Posted on May 23, 2017 by JDierkes

By Julian Dierkes One of the interesting potential dynamics of the presidential campaign and election will be the regional distribution of votes among the three candidates. The Regional Strengths of Political Affiliation Conventional wisdom holds that the Mongolian People’s Party … Continue reading →

Posted in Countryside, Democratic Party, Elections, JD Democratization, Mongolian People's Party, Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, Party Politics, Politics, Presidential 2017 | Tagged | Leave a comment

What are Voters Looking For?

Posted on May 17, 2017 by JDierkes

By Julian Dierkes The campaign for the Mongolian presidency has not entered its hot phase yet but candidates have been confirmed. When Enkhbold M (MPP) and Battulga Kh (DP) were selected, I already reflected on them, another post focused on … Continue reading →

Posted in Corruption, Democracy, Democratic Party, Elections, Mongolian People's Party, Party Politics, Policy, Politics, Presidential 2017, Public Policy | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Negative Income Tax I – Redistribution in Expanding Economies

Posted on May 16, 2017 by JDierkes

By Ulrich Andree Note: This is the first of three articles. For the extended original article see LinkedIn. The forthcoming posts will focus on (dis)advantages of a negative income tax, and on the implementation of a negative income tax in … Continue reading →

Posted in Demography, Development, Economics, Policy, Public Policy, Public Service, Social Change, Social Issues, Taxes, Ullrich Andree | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Negative Income Tax II – Advantages and Disadvantages

Posted on May 16, 2017 by JDierkes

By Ulrich Andree Note: This is the second of three articles. For the extended original article see LinkedIn. The previous post focused on redistribution and the concept of an NIT. The final article will focus on the implementation of an NIT … Continue reading →

Posted in Demography, Development, Economics, Health, Inequality, Policy, Public Policy, Public Service, Social Change, Social Issues, Taxes, Ullrich Andree | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Negative Income Tax III – Implementation

Posted on May 16, 2017 by JDierkes

By Ulrich Andree Note: This is the third of three articles. For the extended original article see LinkedIn. The first post focused on the concept of a negative income tax, the second, on its (dis)advantages. The Implementation of NIT The implementation of NIT … Continue reading →

Posted in Countryside, Demography, Development, Inequality, Public Policy, Public Service, Taxes, Ullrich Andree | Leave a comment

M vs Genco

Posted on May 4, 2017 by JDierkes

By Julian Dierkes The MPP has selected its chairman, Enkhbold M, to be nominated as candidate in the June 26 presidential election. The DP appears to have selected Battulga Kh., pending a party congress. One question remains: Will Enkhbayar N … Continue reading →

Posted in Corruption, Democracy, Democratic Party, Elections, Foreign Policy, International Relations, JD Democratization, Mongolia and ..., Mongolian People's Party, Party Politics, Politics, Populism, Presidential 2017, Public Policy | Tagged | 4 Comments

Guest Post: Erdenet Update 100%, Again Contested

Posted on April 13, 2017 by JDierkes

By Marissa Smith At the close of the fall session of the Ikh Khural, Mongolia’s Parliament, the body voted to invalidate the sale of the 49% shares of Erdenet carried out in summer 2016, which transferred the ownership of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Corruption, Erdenet, Marissa Smith, Mining, Mining Governance, Policy, Politics | 3 Comments

Guest Post: The Long Journey – Towards a Broadcasting Law in Mongolia

Posted on March 29, 2017 by JDierkes

By Toby Mendel Broadcasting laws are important Most democracies, and quite a few non-democracies, have adopted broadcasting laws. At their best, these laws can promote a number of important social and human rights objectives. They can establish independent bodies to regulate … Continue reading →

Posted in Law, Media and Press, Public Policy, Social Media, Society and Culture, Toby Mendel | 6 Comments

Funny Thing Happened Last Week: John Oliver, Dalai Lama, Mongolia

Posted on March 15, 2017 by JDierkes

By Julian Dierkes One of the reasons I encourage graduate students to be strategic about communicating their research results is that you never know when and on what topic the public comes knocking on your door. Sometimes the public comes … Continue reading →

Posted in Curios, Dalai Lama, Health, Media and Press, Pop Culture, Social Issues, Social Media, United States | Tagged | Leave a comment

PS: Constitutional Reform & Double Deel

Posted on March 9, 2017 by JDierkes

By Julian Dierkes Constitutional revision remains under consideration in Mongolia. If the MPP wins the presidential election in June 2017, there may be less pressure toward a revision of the relative power of president and parliament (most recent discussions in … Continue reading →

Posted in Constitution, Democracy, Germany, Governance | Tagged | 4 Comments

Addendum: Paying Bribes

Posted on March 8, 2017 by JDierkes

By Julian Dierkes I recently wrote that year-over-year changes in the Corruption Perception Index for Mongolia didn’t mean much, and also tried to benchmark corruption in Mongolia against post-state socialist countries, resource economies and democracies. Now, Transparency International offers some … Continue reading →

Posted in Corruption, Global Indices | Tagged | 2 Comments

Benchmarking Corruption

Posted on March 1, 2017 by JDierkes

By Julian Dierkes In January, Transparency International released the most recent instalment of its corruption perception index. I’ve already commented that Mongolia’s drop in the CPI rankings was not very meaningful. The more I’ve looked at the CPI over the years, … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Civil Society, Corruption, Global Indices, Mongolia and ... | Tagged | Leave a comment