Author Archives: bulgan batdorj

Guest Post: Naadam Festival – Honouring the Past, Embracing the Future

By Zorigtkhuu B The Naadam Festival is a one-of-a-kind celebration of nomadic culture, symbolizing national independence and featuring a blend of arts and sports, which took place last week. It is the largest gathering for all Mongolians, taking days off … Continue reading

Posted in Naadam, Zorigtkhuu Bat-Erdene | Leave a comment

Charting a New Path: Understanding the Effects of Generational Shift on Politics and Economics

By Bulgan Batdorj  Mongolians born in the 1970s and 80s experienced the country’s transition from communism to democracy in 1990 at a relatively young age. This is a generation that grew up during shaky economic times and a shifting cultural … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Demography, Politics, Pop Culture, Younger Mongolians | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guest post: Mongolia’s Success in Team Sports

By Zorigtkhuu Bat-Erdene  On April 1, 2023, the Mongolian male basketball team repeated their historic success by winning the 3×3 Asian Cup, defeating the Australian team twice, the first time being in 2017. This remarkable achievement has sparked widespread celebration … Continue reading

Posted in Cultural Diplomacy, Demography, Diaspora, Mining, Pop Culture, Population, Public Opinion, Society and Culture, Sports, Tokyo 2020, United States, Younger Mongolians, Zorigtkhuu Bat-Erdene | Leave a comment

New to Ulaanbaatar, Feb 2022

By Bulgan Batdorj  After four years, I finally got to go to Ulaanbaatar in February 2022. Although I was in regular contact with my family and friends, I was overjoyed to see them in person. The home welcoming of UB … Continue reading

Posted in Air Pollution, Bulgan Batdorj, Change, Food, Pop Culture, Reflection, Social Change, Ulaanbaatar | Tagged | Leave a comment

Some observations of the war – Buriyat soldiers

By Bulgan Batdorj  The war caused displacements of millions and thousands of casualties. The United Nations voted to condemn Russia and called for withdrawal. Mongolia abstained in the vote (please more on Mongolia’s government response in this Bolor’s article). The Mongolians … Continue reading

Posted in Bulgan Batdorj, Military, Russia | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Creating Value From Mining: Local Procurement, Shared Value and Sustainable Development

By Jocelyn Fraser & Zorigkhuu Bat-Erdene As Mongolia develops its rich mineral resources, tensions can arise between mining companies and local communities.  Efforts to expand the economy through the development of mineral resources have therefore raised questions about whether mineral … Continue reading

Posted in Countryside, CSR, Jocelyn Fraser, Mining, Public Opinion, Research on Mongolia, Zorigtkhuu Bat-Erdene | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Mongolian Olympic Team in Tokyo 2020

By Zorigtkhuu Bat-Erdene  A Mongolian National Olympic Team of 43 athletes participated in the 2020 Summer Olympic Game in Tokyo, Japan in ten different sports.  Mongolian athletes have been participating in every Summer Olympic Games since 1964 in Tokyo, except … Continue reading

Posted in Cultural Diplomacy, London 2012, Nationalism, Olympics, Pop Culture, Society and Culture, Sports, Tokyo 2020, Wrestling, Youth, Zorigtkhuu Bat-Erdene | Leave a comment

Presidential election candidates platform

By Bulgan B The presidential election campaigning has ended officially on June 8 2021. The campaign lasted for ten days, and tomorrow, June 9th, we are likely to have a result or a likely decision on whether a second vote … Continue reading

Posted in Democratic Party, Judiciary, Military, Mongolia and ..., Mongolian People's Party, National Labor Party, Party Politics, Presidential 2021 | Tagged | Leave a comment

Mongolian Democracy Through the Lens of Animal Farm

By Bulgan Batdorj When I recently read the book Animal Farm by George Orwell, a book written as an allegorical critique of the Soviet Union in 1945, I could not help but compare the characters and story to Mongolia. The … Continue reading

Posted in Bulgan Batdorj, Corruption, Democracy, Development | Tagged | Leave a comment

Women MPs

By Bulgan Batdorj Mongolia’s 8th parliamentary election held on June 24, 2020. Despite the concerns over coronavirus pandemic, the voter turnout reached 68 percent. The election result shows 13 women out of 76 seats  – the exact same number of … Continue reading

Posted in Gender, Ikh Khural 2020 | Tagged | Leave a comment

Parliamentary Election 2020 Campaign Slogans

By Bulgan Batdorj  In this brief post, I want to share the slogans of the parties competing in this year’s parliamentary election on June 24.  I was able to find seven party and three coalition slogans. Although the data is … Continue reading

Posted in Ikh Khural 2020, Party Politics | Tagged | Leave a comment

Coronavirus and Mongolia

By Bulgan B [Updated on March 16, 2020] Three more cases of covid-19 registered on March 16, 2020 (UTC +8 Mongolia). They were on the government’s chartered flight from Seoul to UB, and the ministry was aware of the health … Continue reading

Posted in Elections, Health, Ikh Khural 2020, Mongolia and ... | Tagged | Leave a comment

More Constitutional Amendment Proposals

By Bulgan Batdorj We want to briefly update our audience on the constitutional amendment in Mongolia since our last article Constitutional Amendments. There are two draft proposals, one submitted by the 62 members of parliament on June 6, 2019, and … Continue reading

Posted in Civil Society, Constitution, Democracy, Governance, Party Politics, Politics | Tagged | Leave a comment

Mongolian Mining Forum at PDAC 2018

By Bulgan B Mongolia has made a tradition of sending a delegation to PDAC every year in the last 8 years (at least this is as far as I recall).  Although, the odds of the same minister of mining attending … Continue reading

Posted in Canada, Erdenes Mongol, Mining, Mining, Sovereign Wealth Fund | Tagged | 1 Comment

President Kh. Battulga addressed the Parliament

By Bulgan B Mongolian President Kh Battulga addressed the Parliament during the opening of the fall session on October 2, 2017. While skipping the pleasantries, President listed the major challenges that Mongolia is confronted by and his opinions on those … Continue reading

Posted in Mining, Mining, Mining Governance, Nationalism, Politics, Populism | Tagged | Leave a comment