Author Archives: Julian Dierkes

About Julian Dierkes

Julian Dierkes is a sociologist by training (PhD Princeton Univ) and a Mongolist by choice and passion since around 2005. He teaches in the Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. He toots @jdierkes@sciences.social.

Road Numbering

By Julian Dierkes I do really like my Mongolia countryside drives, whether I am along for the ride as a passenger or driving myself.   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Julian Dierkes (@jbdierkes) One of … Continue reading

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Khurelsukh at UN General Assembly

By Julian Dierkes, Alexander Morrow and Anshika Srivastava In 2021, Pres. U Khurelsukh spoke at the UN General Assembly for the first time as president. He has returned every year since then. Unlike his immediate predecessor, Kh Battulga, he is … Continue reading

Posted in Alexander Morrow, Anshika Srivastava, Foreign Policy, International Relations, Mongolia and ..., Peacekeeping, UN | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Mongolian Hoops Dreams — Creation of Soft Power Through Basketball

By Benjamin Nuland Basketball was introduced to Mongolia in the 1960s by the Russians and Chinese.  More recently, basketball has become Mongolia’s most popular sport, but Mongolians’ associations are primarily American. This fascination lives under the halo of the NBA … Continue reading

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Change in the Countryside June 2024

By Julian Dierkes For some years, I have now traced visible changes in Ulaanbaatar on my periodic visits. I’ve kept a similar list for countryside changes, somewhat less regular as extended visits to the countryside don’t come nearly often enough … Continue reading

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How Unfortunate: Putin Visits Mongolia

By Julian Dierkes Once again, geopolitical realities are catching up with Mongolia and there is very little the government of Mongolia can do about it, even if it wanted to. Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin will be visiting Ulaanbaatar to commemorate … Continue reading

Posted in Foreign Policy, Mongolia and ..., Russia | Tagged | Leave a comment

More on Oyun-Erdene’s Cabinet

By Julian Dierkes and Bulgan B Marissa Smith has already provided an overview of the new cabinet. Here, we’re adding some more information in cabinet members as we had done for previous cabinets. (new cabinet members in bold, if no … Continue reading

Posted in Democratic Party, Government, Ikh Khural 2024, KhUN, Mongolian People's Party, Party Politics, Politics | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guest Comment: Mongolia’s Democratic Party Gambit into Government

By Sugar Munkhtsooj The Mongolian parliamentary elections of 2024, the first since constitutional amendments increased the number of parliamentarians from 76 to 126, concluded in June with results that largely aligned with predictions from pundits and pollsters. As expected, the … Continue reading

Posted in Democratic Party, Government, Ikh Khural 2024, Party Politics, Politics, Sugar Munkhtsooj | Leave a comment

CWGP and National Coalition Results

By Julian Dierkes Beyond the DP’s success, the second great surprise (to me) of the election results was that the Civil Will Green Party re-entered parliament with four seats and the National Coalition gained four seats on its first attempt. … Continue reading

Posted in Civil Will Green Party, Elections, Ikh Khural 2024, National Coalition, Party Politics | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guest Post: A free but not a Fair Election: It Was All About Money

By Bat-Orgil Altankhuyag, Batkhishig Gankhuyag Mongolia recently conducted its tenth competitive election since 1990 in June 2024 (the first multi-party elections). In general, various electoral observation reports, including the one conducted by OSCE-ODIHR, suggest that the 2024 parliamentary election was … Continue reading

Posted in Bat-Orgil Altankhuyag, Batkhishig Gankhuyag, Civil Will Green Party, Democratic Party, Elections, Governance, Ikh Khural 2024, KhUN, Mongolian People's Party, National Coalition, Party Politics, Politics | Leave a comment

Observing Election Day: Bulgan and Orkhon Aimags

By Julian Dierkes During the five days leading up to the election we had driven through Tov, Arkhangai and Khuvsgul, visiting polling stations and campaign offices along the way. We have reflected on the election preparations we saw during these … Continue reading

Posted in Countryside, Elections, Ikh Khural 2024, Politics | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Mutton and Mahogany: Mongolia’s 62-year Friendship with Laos Continues

By Benjamin Nuland On June 11th 2024, Mongolia welcomed the Laotian president to Sukhbaatar Square for the first time since 2007. Thongloun Sisoulith’s arrival celebrated a 62-year long friendship between Laos and Mongolia and decades of goodwill. In the 1980s … Continue reading

Posted in ASEAN, Benjamin Nuland, Diversification, Foreign Investment, Foreign Policy, Laos, Mongolia and ..., Policy | Leave a comment

New to Ulaanbaatar June-July 2024

By Julian Dierkes I’ve been keeping lists of things that are arriving to/disappearing from central Ulaanbaatar: August 2023 | May 2023 | November 2022 | August 2022 | December 2019 | June 2019 | April 2019 | December 2018 | August 2018 | October 2017 | June 2017 | May 2016 | December 2015 | May … Continue reading

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Double Deel Direct

By Julian Dierkes As Bulgan B recently pointed out to me, every member of PM Oyun-Erdene’s new cabinet is an MP! Maybe not surprising for many parliamentary democracies, but this has been a lingering topic of discussion for many years. … Continue reading

Posted in Governance, Government, Ikh Khural 2024, JD Democratization, Politics | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guest Post: The Thunder Dragon Arrives on Dragon Year: Mongolia and Bhutan Are Just Getting Started

By Benjamin Nuland If I could give an award for Mongolia’s ‘most underestimated relationship’, it must be that with Bhutan. Mongolia’s relationship with Democratic Bhutan began on January 18, 2012, when UN representatives of both nations mutually signed letters of … Continue reading

Posted in ASEAN, Benjamin Nuland, Food, Foreign Policy, Mongolia and ..., Trade | Leave a comment

DP Results

By Julian Dierkes To me, the success of the DP was one of the surprises of the June 28 election. To my surprise, the DP soared to claim one third of seats in #Mongolia parliament. blogs.ubc.ca/mongolia/202… #Сонгууль2024 #Сонгууль #MGLpoli [image … Continue reading

Posted in Democratic Party, Ikh Khural 2024, Party Politics, Politics | Tagged | Leave a comment