Monthly Archives: November 2018

Cabinet Reshuffle: Dambadorj for Foreign Education Minister

By Julian Dierkes With all the scandals surrounding corruption in the past month and the no-confidence vote against PM Khurelsukh failing, it’s time for a re-imagining of a previous post. I’m expanding my campaign from trying to become the foreign … Continue reading

Posted in Curios | Tagged | Leave a comment

Camping Nomads

By Julian Dierkes Historically, Mongolians are a nation of “campers”. While perhaps less than a third of them still are mobile pastoralists, and even they are less mobile than they once were, nomadism and the movable home still play large … Continue reading

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

Party Implications of SME Fund Scandal

By Julian Dierkes Since late summer, I have been speculating about different scenarios to bring about a change in political culture and in the party landscape. These speculations focused on trigger evens that might lead to protests which would lead … Continue reading

Posted in Civil Will Green Party, Constitution, Corruption, Democracy, Governance, Ikh Khural 2020, Law, National Labor Party, Party Politics, Policy, Politics, Populism, Protest, Social Movements | Tagged | Leave a comment

Politicians in the Wake of the Ждү Scandal

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

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, Podcast, Politics, Social Change, Social Media, Society and Culture, Tsenguun Tumurkhuyag, Ulaanbaatar | Leave a comment

Guest Post: An “Alternate Economy” Run by Chieftains

By B Naidalaa This article was originally published on Ikon.mn on Nov 7 2018 as “Монгол дахь УЛСТӨРИЙН корпорацийн АЖИЛЧДАД ХЭЛЭХ ҮГ” The term “informal economy” or “shadow economy” applies to a segment of the economy  that is not registered, … Continue reading

Posted in Badrakh Naidalaa, Business, Corruption, Diversification, Policy, Politics, Public Policy | Leave a comment

What are SMEs and the SME Fund?

By Marissa J. Smith Asking questions about the international politics of the Mongolian economy After reading the South China Morning Post article on the SME scandal, I decided to look more closely at the company profiled, Mongolian Charcoal. I soon … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Corruption, Development, International Cooperation Fund, Mongolia and ..., Public Policy, Research on Mongolia | Tagged | Leave a comment

Not a Political SMEar Campaign

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