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Recent Posts
- What Does the Rusal-Rio Case Actually Mean For Mongolia?
- Mongolia Focus in Review 2025
- Guest Post: Parliamentary Oyu Tolgoi Hearings: Key Themes and What We Often Misunderstand About Economic Benefit
- Self-Censorship
- The Zandanshatar Crisis that Unhappened (And What Happens Next?)
- How May Prime Ministers, Speakers, and MPs Be Removed?
- Khurelsukh and Pax Mongolica at the UN
- 2026 Budget Proposal: With Failing Infrastructure, Can Mongolia Pivot From Coal to Copper?
- On Egg Cartons In Mongolia
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Category Archives: Politics
What Does the Rusal-Rio Case Actually Mean For Mongolia?
By Marissa J. Smith Coinciding with the December 2025 Oyu Tolgoi hearings, a Russian court decided for Rusal against Rio Tinto in the case of a $1.32 billion lawsuit around a joint alumina refinery in Queensland that Rio took sole … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Infrastructure, Mining, Mongolia and ..., Politics, Russia
Tagged Marissa Smith
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Guest Post: Parliamentary Oyu Tolgoi Hearings: Key Themes and What We Often Misunderstand About Economic Benefit
By Zorig Bat-Erdene An ad hoc committee established by the Mongolian Parliament recently held hearings on the Oyu Tolgoi (OT) Investment Agreement, bringing together nearly 300 participants. Attendees included former presidents and prime ministers, current and former ministers and lawmakers, … Continue reading
Self-Censorship
By Julian Dierkes Seemingly, Mongolian democracy has been backsliding since 2019. Post by @jdierkes@sciences.social View on Mastodon Shifts in the V-Dem indices are not huge, but noticeable and consistent. Mongolia now ranks as an “electoral autocracy” not a … Continue reading
The Zandanshatar Crisis that Unhappened (And What Happens Next?)
By Julian Dierkes and Marissa J. Smith Just a month ago, we thought we might have to revise our post with short bios of the current cabinet members in PM Zandanshatar’s cabinet. That still might happen with ongoing speculation about … Continue reading
How May Prime Ministers, Speakers, and MPs Be Removed?
By Marissa J. Smith In the past few days efforts have been underway in The State Great Khural to remove Prime Minister Zandanshatar (and his government) and Speaker of Parliament Amarbayasgalan. This follows Speaker of Parliament Amarbayasgalan’s ascension as MPP … Continue reading
Guest Post: “Mongolian tie demokratiaan” Photo Exhibition in Helsinki
By Mend-Amar Baigalmaa The photo and poster exhibition “Mongolian Tie to Democracy” by Finnish journalist and photographer Irja Halász opened on May 31, 2025, at the Sofia Cultural Centre Gallery in Helsinki, Finland. Sieh dir diesen Beitrag auf Instagram … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Democracy, History, Mend-Amar Baigalmaa
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Acting Powerful
By Julian Dierkes I recently engaged in some political dreaming with very good Mongolian friends. The prompt was, “If you were Grand Khaan/Prime Minister, what would be some changes you would make right away?”. We quickly abanonded the Grand Khaan … Continue reading
Zandanshatar Cabinet
By Julian Dierkes and Marissa J. Smith As we have done for cabinets since 2016 (Erdenebat 2016 | Khurelsukh 2017 | Khurelsukh 2020 | Oyun-Erdene 2021 | Oyun-Erdene 2022 | Oyun-Erdene 2023 | Oyun-Erdene 2024), we’re listing cabinet members below … Continue reading
Posted in Government, Mongolian People's Party, Politics
Tagged Julian Dierkes; Marissa Smith
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PM Zandanshatar
By Julian Dierkes So, Mongolia has a new prime minister. Parliament elected G Zandanshatar in the early hours of June 13. Initial reporting indicated that only 108 members were present, but it seems to have turned out that 108 members … Continue reading
The Mongolian People’s Party: A Glossary
By Marissa J. Smith As demonstrated by the still-unfolding process of presenting a new Prime Minister for confirmation by the Ikh Khural, it has become difficult to follow Mongolian politics without an understanding of the internal structure and processes of … Continue reading
Mongolia’s Next PM: Media Mentions of Possible PM Nominees
By Marissa J. Smith and Julian Dierkes With L Oyun-Erdene’s resignation as prime minister, obviously, there is a lot of speculation and media mentions of possible PM nominees whom the MPP might nominate to succeed him. Before we look at … Continue reading
Posted in Mongolian People's Party, Party Politics, Politics
Tagged Marissa Smith; Julian Dierkes
3 Comments
End of the Oyun-Erdene Era?
By Julian Dierkes Of course, the one time, my frustration at endless speculation about political machinations and alliances actually gets to me, something happens, namely Prime Minister L Oyun-Erdene’s era appears to be ending. In the early morning of June … Continue reading
Posted in Democratic Party, Ikh Khural 2024, KhUN, Mongolian People's Party, Party Politics, Politics
Tagged Julian Dierkes
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Government Confusion
By Julian Dierkes A bit of confusion in Mongolia at the moment regarding the state of the coalition government and the fate of L Oyun-Erdene as prime minister. Last week, it was reported that a) the DP had been removed … Continue reading
Posted in Democratic Party, Government, Media and Press, Mongolian People's Party, Party Politics, Politics
Tagged Julian Dierkes
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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 Julian Dierkes
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Russian-Mongolian Friendship and the Rehabilitation of Tsedenbal and Filatova
By Marissa J. Smith After leading the Mongolian People’s Republic continuously since 1952, Yu. Tsedenbal was dismissed from his office in 1984 while traveling in Moscow (Atwood 2004, 549). Tsedenbal and his Russian wife, Filatova, never returned to Mongolia. However, … Continue reading