Category Archives: Civil Society

Remonstrance in Red and Black, With Response: The Demonstrations of January 2025

By Marissa J. Smith So far, winter 2025 has seen two brief demonstrations. Neither approaches the scale of the last major demonstration event, the so-called “coal theft”/нүүрс хуулгайч protests of December 2022 and January 2023, which was followed by a … Continue reading

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Parliamentary Elections 2024: Note on Third Parties, #1

by Marissa J. Smith While we wait for the State Audit Office to review and approve party platforms (I will be looking for them to appear on the General Election Commission’s website around April 26), I have prepared some observations … Continue reading

Posted in Civil Society, Civil Will Green Party, Democratic Party, Elections, Ikh Khural 2024, KhUN, Mongolian People's Party, Party Politics, Politics | Tagged | Leave a comment

Aspirational Statements as Legislation

By Julian Dierkes With the “Protecting Human Rights on Social Media Law” we have seen another round of what seems like fairly misguided legislation. Tegshbayar has already questioned the need for an expedited process and other aspects for this law. … Continue reading

Posted in Democracy, Governance, JD Democratization, Judiciary, Law, Media and Press, Politics, Protest, Social Media | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guest Post: For the 3rd Time, the Mongolian Parliament Has Passed a Law in Breach of Other Laws

By D. TEGSHBAYAR On January 18, 2023, the Mongolian parliament passed a “bill to protect human rights on social media” that allows to regulate social media contents. Within a little over 48 hours after the draft proposal submitted by the … Continue reading

Posted in Civil Society, Constitution, Darambazar Tegshbayar, Human Rights, Law, Media and Press, Politics, Protest, Social Media | Leave a comment

Guest Post: The Scary Part about ‘Our Common Geopolitical Language’

By Peter W. Fong Way back in 2018, I led a first-ever scientific expedition from the headwaters of Mongolia’s Selenge River to Russia’s Lake Baikal, one of our planet’s great environmental treasures. In those halcyon days, our international team of … Continue reading

Posted in Countryside, Environmental Movements, International Relations, Renewables, River Movements, Russia, Water | Leave a comment

December 2022 Protests

By Julian Dierkes Once again, following protests in April 2022, primarily younger Mongolians took to Sukhbaatar Square in protest in early December. I initially wrote about these protests for The Diplomat, pointing out the simmering corruption worries connected to state-owned … Continue reading

Posted in China, Corruption, Erdenes Mongol, JD Democratization, Mining, Mining Governance, Politics, Protest, Protest, Tavan Tolgoi, Younger Mongolians | Tagged | Leave a comment

State-Socialist Legacies and Selective Perception of Propaganda

By Julian Dierkes Every so often, my conversations, especially on visits to Mongolia which are so valuable for my thinking, touch on bigger issues that are challenging to frame as a blog post. This is one of those attempts to … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Dissertation Ideas, Gender, History, JD Democratization, Policy, Politics, Protest, Protest, Reflection, Social Issues, Social Movements, Society and Culture | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Sukhgerel Dugersuren: Criminal or Marmite Character?

By Jennifer Lander Contrary to popular opinion and the slogans of international organisations, democracy and economic development do not always make for easy bedfellows. One of the basic elements of democracy has to do with the function of law under … Continue reading

Posted in Environmental Movements, Jennifer Lander, Law, Politics, Protest, Protest, Renewables, Security Apparatus | Leave a comment

Russophiles, Russophones and Russophobes

By Julian Dierkes Reactions to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine have been quite visible on Twitter. Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov’s visit to Ulaanbaatar on July 5 have brought many of these reactions to the fore again. Here’s a prominent and strongly-worded … Continue reading

Posted in Democracy, International Relations, Mongolia and ..., Protest, Russia | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Understanding the Challenges of Water Development and Hydropower Plant Projects

By BOLORMAA Purevjav A “National Program for renewable energy 2005-2020” of Mongolia was adopted in 2005 planning the development of feasibility studies for the construction of large hydropower plants on the Selenge, Eg and Orkhon rivers. The Government of Mongolia … Continue reading

Posted in Bolormaa Purevjav, Environment, Environmental Movements, International Agreements, International Relations, Mining, Mongolia and ..., Policy, Regulation, River Movements, Russia, Water | Leave a comment