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.

In Ulaanbaatar with EITI Project Graduate Students

Posted on May 20, 2014 by JDierkes

Together with Dirk van Zyl, a colleague in UBC’s NBK Institute of Mining Engineering, I supervised an interdisciplinary group of graduate students in a project on the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and focused especially on EITI reporting in Mongolia … Continue reading →

Posted in Corruption, Governance, Mining | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Cluttering of Ulaanbaatar

Posted on May 6, 2014 by JDierkes

By Julian Dierkes Caveats: I am no city planner, nor a scholar of urban development. I also don’t have a strong sense of what’s happening in Ulaanbaatar outside the very small downtown area within, say, 4km of Sukhbaatar Square. Yet, … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, Ulaanbaatar | Tagged | Leave a comment

State-Sponsored Formalization of Household Herding in Rural Bayanhongor

Posted on April 29, 2014 by JDierkes

“A herder is master of 1000 professions.” President Elbegdorj, printed at the top of herder diplomas The Presence of the State in Rural Mongolia Over the course of my dissertation fieldwork in Mongolia, I spent a considerable amount of time … Continue reading →

Posted in Ariell Ahearn, Countryside, Education, Nomadism, Presidential 2013, Research on Mongolia | 1 Comment

Is the Altankhuyag Government Teetering?

Posted on April 15, 2014 by JDierkes

Prime Minister Altankhuyag has been leading the government for almost two years. To an outside observer like me, he has remained a puzzle in how he has been able to keep a coalition and a divided party united first for … Continue reading →

Posted in Democratic Party, Party Politics, Politics | Tagged | 1 Comment

Mongolia in the 2014 Social Progress Index

Posted on April 8, 2014 by JDierkes

[This post was written jointly by Undral Amarsaikhan and Julian Dierkes] On April 2, the Social Progressive Imperative released its 2014 Social Progress Index. For the first time, this included Mongolia. The Social Progressive Index is an index of indices … Continue reading →

Posted in Air Pollution, Corruption, Development, Economics, Education, Global Indices, Governance, Nomadism, Policy, Policy, Primary and Secondary Education, Research on Mongolia, Social Change, Undral Amarsaikhan, Water | Tagged | 1 Comment

Fellow Mongolia Focus Bloggers Marching Along in Academic Careers

Posted on April 7, 2014 by JDierkes

Congratulations to two Mongolia Focus grad student bloggers! MENDEE Jargalsaikhan passed his comprehensive examinations in Political Science at the Univ of British Columbia last week. The next step for him will be to write and defend a dissertation proposal to … Continue reading →

Posted in Brandon Miliate, Mendee Jargalsaikhan, Research on Mongolia | Tagged | Leave a comment

Book Reviews: Change in Democratic Mongolia

Posted on March 20, 2014 by JDierkes

The edited volume, Change in Democratic Mongolia: Social Relations, Health, Mobile Pastoralism, and Mining has been reviewed in the following academic publications: Morris Rossabi (2013) in Pacific Affairs 86 (3): 642-644. Jeremy Swift (2014) in Nomadic Peoples 18 (1): 152-155. Tjalling … Continue reading →

Posted in Book: Change in Democratic Mongolia, Research on Mongolia | Tagged | Leave a comment

Mongolia-Australia Mining Partnership

Posted on March 20, 2014 by JDierkes

During FM Lu Bold’s visit to Australia, there has now been an announcement of a grand “Mining Partnership” between Mongolia and Australia to the tune of A$20m over 5 years. From Julie Bishop, Australian Foreign Minister’s website: Mongolian Foreign Minister … Continue reading →

Posted in Australia, Bilateral Aid, Development, Foreign Policy, Governance, Mongolia and ... | Tagged | Leave a comment

Foreign Policy, Mining & Development

Posted on March 3, 2014 by JDierkes

I happened to catch a segment of CBC’s “The 180” radio show that included an interview with Erin O’Toole, the Canadian Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade. The segment focused on the “marriage” of foreign policy, development aid, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Bilateral Aid, Canada, Development, Foreign Policy | Tagged | Leave a comment

Subscores: Freedom in the World Report

Posted on February 2, 2014 by JDierkes

When the 2014 Freedom in the World report was released on January 23, it came with the following map: At the time I tweeted, “That dot of hopeful green in a see of authoritarian purple is #Mongolia #FIW“. I also … Continue reading →

Posted in Corruption, Democracy, Elections, Governance, Party Politics, Politics | Tagged | 1 Comment

In Defence of Twitter Diplomacy

Posted on January 10, 2014 by JDierkes

On January 6, David Carment (Carleton Univ, @cdnfp) wrote a comment piece for The Embassy (a Canadian weekly and on-line paper focused on Canada’s international relations) that made a case for “Why Twitter Diplomacy Won’t Lead to Better Foreign Policy“. As I’ve … Continue reading →

Posted in Canada, Foreign Policy, Social Media | Tagged | Leave a comment

Symposium: Mongolian Responses to Globalization

Posted on January 4, 2014 by JDierkes

Department for Mongolian and Tibetan Studies Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn January 15-17, 2014 Organizer: Ines Stolpe The event is designed as a workshop in order to foster lively discussions on issues and topics concerning contemporary Mongolia – including their historical backgrounds. Our primary goal is … Continue reading →

Posted in Conferences, Research on Mongolia | Leave a comment

My Sources on Developments in Mongolia

Posted on December 27, 2013 by JDierkes

I am sometimes asked how I keep up with developments in Mongolia from afar. I take that question as a compliment on the quality of the analysis we provide. Social Media Twitter has become an invaluable tool for keeping up … Continue reading →

Posted in Media and Press, Research on Mongolia, Social Media | Tagged | Leave a comment

Subscribing to Mongolia Focus Updates

Posted on December 14, 2013 by JDierkes

We’ve posted over 250 updates to this blog in the past 2 1/2 years. Any volunteers out there to edit a compilation? 😉 You’ve asked frequently about notifications for new posts recently. All along, I’ve tweeted about new posts @jdierkes and … Continue reading →

Posted in Research on Mongolia, Social Media | Tagged | Leave a comment

Results from the Corruption Perception Index 2013

Posted on December 2, 2013 by JDierkes

On Dec 3, Transparency International released its annual Corruption Perception Index. Previous Posts Last year, I wrote two blog posts that specifically focused on the CPI score for Mongolia: https://mongoliafocus.com/2012/corruption-transparency-international/ https://mongoliafocus.com/2012/more-on-corruption-in-mongolia-according-to-transparency-international-further-comparisons/ Last weekend, I wrote a post that looked ahead … Continue reading →

Posted in Corruption, Governance, Media and Press, Policy, Social Issues | Tagged | Leave a comment