Category Archives: Social Media

Guest Post: The 2020 Election and the Online News

Posted on July 1, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

By Judith Nordby Did online news sites reflect voters’ concerns and their opinions of the candidates in the recent election? This I asked myself while consulting Mongolian language sites – written by Mongolians for Mongolians. Ikon.mn, news.mn, sonin.mn and dnn.mn … Continue reading →

Posted in Ikh Khural 2020, Judith Nordby, Law, Media and Press, Social Media | Leave a comment

Voting with Enthusiasm

Posted on June 25, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes There was a lot of enthusiasm on display early on June 24 as the polls opened. Expressions of enthusiasm built in part on the very active өглөө campaign that had been part of a bring-out-the-youth-vote effort.   … Continue reading →

Posted in Curios, Ikh Khural 2020, Pop Culture, Social Media, Younger Mongolians | Tagged | Leave a comment

Zoom: Mongolia Campaign Update II

Posted on June 22, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

On June 22, we held another panel presentation/discussion about the 2020 parliamentary election campaign. The campaign will end shortly to take a daylong break before election day on June 24. We provide a general update on the campaign, but will … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Gender, Ikh Khural 2020, Party Politics, Social Media | Leave a comment

2019 Mongolia Focus in Review

Posted on January 1, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes Our blog is in its 9th year. We smashed through our 600th post this year. Most notably we were recognized through a Public Outreach Award from the Central Eurasian Studies Society. Mendee defended his PhD. I’d say, … Continue reading →

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

Guest Post: Cybersecurity or Cybercensorship?

Posted on April 26, 2019 by Julian Dierkes

By Otgonpurev M According to an article by ikon.mn policymakers in the Mongolian parliament perceive fake news that appear on social networks as a cyber attack.  Officials have responded to the demand to combat cyber harassment and the spread of … Continue reading →

Posted in Law, Media and Press, Otgonpurev Mendsaikhan, Security Apparatus, Social Change, Social Media | Leave a comment

Toward a Transition Away from Coal

Posted on April 3, 2019 by Julian Dierkes

By Sandeep Pai and Julian Dierkes In November 2018, Tsenguun T and Aldarsaikhan T wrote a guest post describing the Mongolian podcast scene. Since then, more podcasts have sprung up, for example, recent guest post co-author Boldsaikhan S is involved … Continue reading →

Posted in Air Pollution, China, Climate Change, Development, Diversification, Energy, Foreign Investment, Infrastructure, Podcast, Policy, Policy, Renewables, Sandeep Pai, Social Media | Tagged | Leave a comment

Blogging in 2018

Posted on January 1, 2019 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes Mongolia Focus is in its 8th year of existence. We’ve continued to blog pretty steadily in 2018 with a total of 65 new posts this past year. Since July 2011, we’ve published at least one post every … Continue reading →

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

Politicians in the Wake of the Ждү Scandal

Posted on November 18, 2018 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes Over the past several months, Mendee and I have written several articles describing the mounting political frustration in Mongolia and the likelihood of a series of upheavals brining about political change in the coming 5-10 years. Well, … Continue reading →

Posted in Corruption, Democracy, National Labor Party, Party Politics, Politics, Protest, Social Media | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Podcasting Mongolia

Posted on November 12, 2018 by Julian Dierkes

By Tsenguun T & Aldarsaikhan T The Mongolian podcasting scene is growing rapidly since the production of the first Mongolian podcast Үлдэх Үг in mid-2016. There are close to 20 Mongolian podcasts covering various topics today, and this number is … Continue reading →

Posted in Aldarsaikhan Tuvshinbat, Business, City Planning, Environment, Gender, Higher Education, LGBTI, Media and Press, Politics, Social Change, Social Media, Society and Culture, Tsenguun Tumurkhuyag, Ulaanbaatar | Leave a comment

Not a Political SMEar Campaign

Posted on November 2, 2018 by Julian Dierkes

By Mendee J and Julian Dierkes A massive corruption scandal is brewing in Mongolia. Alhtough the scandal was skillfully picked up by President Battulga and Democratic Party MPs for partisan politicking, now it literally opened a pandora’s box of corruption. … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Corruption, Diversification, Media and Press, Mongolian People's Party, Policy, Politics, Protest, Social Media, Social Movements | Tagged | Leave a comment

Pervasive Sense of (Political) Crisis

Posted on September 13, 2018 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes During my most recent visit to Mongolia, I heard talk of political crisis everywhere. [A strong argument for visiting more often!] Not the kind of crisis that could be resolved by a change of government, although rumours … Continue reading →

Posted in Democracy, Governance, Ikh Khural 2020, Nationalism, Party Politics, Politics, Public Opinion, Social Media, Social Movements, Society and Culture | Tagged | Leave a comment

Virtual Nomination of Anti-Corruption Leaders: Political Innovations?

Posted on May 9, 2018 by mendee

By Mendee Jargalsaikhan and Julian Dierkes The role of social media continues to be something that we are watching closely. The most notable example of social-mediated democracy was Ch Saikhanbileg’s 2015 SMS poll. But, despite Mongolian politicians’ early embrace of … Continue reading →

Posted in Corruption, Judiciary, Public Service, Security Apparatus, Social Media | Tagged | Leave a comment

Where did the Conspiracy Conspiracy Come From?

Posted on January 21, 2018 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes Mongolia is not unique in the presence of conspiracy theories, nor in the presence of events and factors in those events that may lend themselves to conspiracy theories. Yet, in my experience, conspiracy theories have become dominant … Continue reading →

Posted in Corruption, Curios, History, Party Politics, Politics, Pop Culture, Social Issues, Social Media | Tagged | 1 Comment

6-Year Anniversary and Welcome Marissa Smith

Posted on July 31, 2017 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes Unbelievable! We’ve been blogging here for six years now! That means that almost 100,000 users (93,500) have looked at over of a quarter of a million of posts (277,000). They’ve selected among over 480 posts. The most … Continue reading →

Posted in Research on Mongolia, Social Media | 2 Comments

Allegations Against All Candidates

Posted on June 20, 2017 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes One of the recurring challenges in trying to keep up with political developments in Mongolia is the extent to which these developments seem to be driven by rumours and accusations. That is especially the case during an … Continue reading →

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