Category Archives: Social Media

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 →

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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

Initial Campaign Impressions

Posted on June 7, 2017 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes After a first full day of campaigning, here are some very quick, superficial impressions of the presidential election campaign. These are based largely on Twitter and some emailing, as I am about to get on a plane … Continue reading →

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

Guest Post: The Long Journey – Towards a Broadcasting Law in Mongolia

Posted on March 29, 2017 by Julian Dierkes

By Toby Mendel Broadcasting laws are important Most democracies, and quite a few non-democracies, have adopted broadcasting laws. At their best, these laws can promote a number of important social and human rights objectives. They can establish independent bodies to regulate … Continue reading →

Posted in Law, Media and Press, Public Policy, Social Media, Society and Culture, Toby Mendel | 3 Comments

Funny Thing Happened Last Week: John Oliver, Dalai Lama, Mongolia

Posted on March 15, 2017 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes One of the reasons I encourage graduate students to be strategic about communicating their research results is that you never know when and on what topic the public comes knocking on your door. Sometimes the public comes … Continue reading →

Posted in Curios, Dalai Lama, Health, Media and Press, Pop Culture, Social Issues, Social Media, United States | Tagged | Leave a comment

Blogging in 2016

Posted on January 4, 2017 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes In the sixth calendar year of the existence of this blog, we were once again very happy to find a significant number of readers. In the course of the year, we wrote 68 new posts. Highlights of … Continue reading →

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