Monthly Archives: July 2017

Beyond “Populism without Party Platforms”: Mongolians’ Politics Beyond Ulaanbaatar

By Marissa Smith The campaign and election of the rough-voiced businessman-judoka Kh. Battulga to the presidency of Mongolia has elicited comparisons to Donald Trump and gestures to a global wave of “populism” from analysts and commentators, journalistic as well as … Continue reading

Posted in Countryside, Democratic Party, Demography, Elections, Erdenet, Kazakhs, Marissa Smith, Mongolian Diaspora, Mongolian People's Party, Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, Populism, Presidential 2017 | Tagged | Leave a comment

6-Year Anniversary and Welcome Marissa Smith

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

Battulga, What Kind of President?

By Julian Dierkes Kh Battulga has been elected president. That means the dominance of the president’s office by the DP will continue another four years past Ts Elbegdorj’s two terms. But what kind of president will Battulga be? While the … Continue reading

Posted in Constitution, Corruption, Democracy, Governance, JD Democratization, Party Politics, Politics, Presidential 2017 | Tagged | 1 Comment

Guest Post: Not Hans and George but Battulga?

By Dénes Jäger In Turkish media the result of the Mongolian presidential elections didn’t really attract much attention. Most outlets only published a footnote, while some, interestingly, depicted Battulga as being a candidate close to Vladimir Putin. Naturally, Turkey currently … Continue reading

Posted in Bilateral Aid, Dénes Jäger, Foreign Policy, Turkey | 1 Comment

New to Ulaanbaatar June 2017

By Julian Dierkes I’ve been keeping a list of things that are arriving to/disappearing from central Ulaanbaatar: May 2016 | December 2015 | May 2015 | May 2014 | October 2013. More informal versions of these observations also appear in … Continue reading

Posted in Change, Curios, Social Change, Ulaanbaatar | Tagged | Leave a comment

Populism and the Judiciary

By Julian Dierkes Populists around the world seem to be targeting the judiciary as some kind of obstacle to implementing the “people’s will”. Most recently, this is happening in Poland, where the governing party PiS is trying to usurp rights … Continue reading

Posted in Corruption, Judiciary, Presidential 2017 | Tagged | 2 Comments

Republished: Mongolia – An Unexpected Bastion of Democracy Thanks to Its Youth

A child walks past Mongolians holding up banners at a protest against offshore account holders in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, in March. (AP Photo/Ganbat Namjilsangarav) Julian Dierkes, University of British Columbia By some accounts, democracy is under pressure. Freedom House, the American … Continue reading

Posted in Populism, Presidential 2017 | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guest Post: CIRDI Workshop Mongolian Young Professionals Shining

By Delgermaa B Short reflection on the capacity building training organized on June 19-23, 2017, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia Mongolian Young Professional are Shining Just few weeks ago I had a chance to participate in the capacity building training organized by the … Continue reading

Posted in Canada, CIRDI, Delgermaa Boldbaatar, Mining, Mining, Mining Governance, Oyu Tolgoi, Policy | Leave a comment

Change in the Countryside – June 2017

By Julian Dierkes For some years, I have now taken notes about visible changes in Ulaanbaatar on my periodic visits. In part this is note-taking for my own self, because there are so many things that I don’t remember already … Continue reading

Posted in Change, Countryside, Curios | Tagged | Leave a comment

State of Digital Diplomacy in Mongolia Missions

By Julian Dierkes With the appointment of Z Enkbold as chief of staff and Ts Sukhbaatar as foreign policy advisor, Pres. Battulga’s foreign policy team is coming together. Foreign policy, of course, is one of the areas of policy-making that … Continue reading

Posted in Australia, Canada, Digital Diplomacy, Foreign Policy, Germany, Japan, Mongolia and ..., North Korea, Russia, South Korea, UN, United States | Tagged | Leave a comment

More Graduates of Archery 101

By Julian Dierkes & Mendee Two years ago, Mendee posted some photos of world leaders visiting Mongolia and encountering archery. In June, we finally had a chance to have the experience ourselves, thanks to Mendee’s childhood friend who is an … Continue reading

Posted in Curios | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Who Abstained in the Run-Off?

By Julian Dierkes On the day before the second round of the presidential election, my biggest question was about the movement to encourage voters to submit blank ballots, essentialy voting none-of-the-above. We have known since election night that just under … Continue reading

Posted in Gobi, Presidential 2017 | Tagged | Leave a comment

Reflection on Second Round [Video]

By Julian Dierkes With the second round of the presidential election on July 7, the “election season” has come to an end and I summarize its result in this brief video. Obviously, our attention now turns to what the future … Continue reading

Posted in Elections, Governance, Party Politics, Politics, Presidential 2017, Video | Tagged | Leave a comment

Big Questions on Voting Day

By Julian Dierkes The run-off in the 2017 presidential contest is upon us. Since June 26 there has been no campaigning, but a number of developments with a likely impact on the run-off result have occurred. 1. White Ballot Movement … Continue reading

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Women Run Mongolian Elections, But They Don’t Run In Them

By Julian Dierkes When you go to vote in Mongolia, look around in the polling station. Like so many (government) offices, the polling stations are run by women. Yes, every once in a while, there will be a man as … Continue reading

Posted in Elections, Gender, JD Democratization, Presidential 2017, Social Issues | Tagged | Leave a comment