Category Archives: Economics

Guest Post: A BIT of Project Finance Arbitrage in Mongolia

Posted on April 1, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

By Kinnari Bhatt As Jennifer Lander observed last week, RIO is getting out the big guns. My new book – Concessionaires, Financiers and Communities: Implementing Indigenous Peoples’ Rights to Land in Transnational Development Projects, shows how investors like RIO use … Continue reading →

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Posted in Canada, Foreign Investment, International Agreements, Kinnari Bhatt, Law, Mining, Mining Governance, Mongolia and ..., Oyu Tolgoi, Oyu Tolgoi, Research on Mongolia, Taxes | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Investor-State Arbitration and Mongolia’s Rapidly Shrinking Policy Space

Posted on March 11, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

By Jennifer Lander On the 20th of February, Rio Tinto initiated arbitration proceedings against the Government of Mongolia at the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) through Oyu Tolgoi LLC. The escalation of the dispute over the alleged … Continue reading →

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Posted in Economics, Foreign Investment, International Agreements, Jennifer Lander, Law, Mining, Mining, Mining Governance, Oyu Tolgoi, Oyu Tolgoi, Policy, Taxes, Trade | Leave a comment

Constitutional Amendments Adopted

Posted on November 15, 2019 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes While some details remain curiously unclear (as is so frustratingly often the case with Mongolian legislation and reporting on it, the Ikh Khural approved a number of constitutional amendments on Nov 15. While these are subject to … Continue reading →

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Posted in Constitution, Democracy, Elections, Governance, JD Democratization, JD Mining Governance, Judiciary, Mining Governance, Party Politics, Policy, Policy, Politics | Tagged | Leave a comment

Addressing Meat Prices through Policy not Populism

Posted on June 2, 2019 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes A very curious spectacle recently to see meat warehouses raided by the General Intelligence Agency. I have seen little discussion of the legality of such raids which look a bit like the action taken against a mining … Continue reading →

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Posted in Agriculture, Countryside, Diversification, Employment, Herding, Public Policy | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Likelihood of Political Renewal

Posted on April 22, 2019 by Julian Dierkes

By  Julian Dierkes Why I am generally optimistic about Mongolian developments, Mongolian politics presents a lot of challenges and the current state of affairs causes more despair than it has in the previous 12+ years that I’ve been paying attention. … Continue reading →

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Posted in Constitution, Corruption, Democracy, Democratic Party, Foreign Policy, Human Rights, Ikh Khural 2020, Inequality, JD Democratization, Judiciary, Mining Governance, Mongolian People's Party, Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, Nationalism, Party Politics, Policy, Politics, Populism, Presidential 2021, Social Movements | Tagged | 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 →

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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

Guest Post: China’s Belt and Road Initiative

Posted on March 12, 2019 by Julian Dierkes

By Connor Judge and Sanchir Jargalsaikhan Myriad conferences, expos, forums and articles have recently elevated the profile of acronyms “OBOR” and “BRI” to a par with “blockchain,” the latter being a ground-breaking technology that few fully understand, but which has … Continue reading →

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Posted in China, Connor Judge, Foreign Policy, Infrastructure, International Relations, Mongolia and ..., Policy, Russia, Sanchir Jargalsaikhan, SCO | Leave a comment

Energy Independence and Internationalism: Oil Extraction and Refining in Mongolia So Far

Posted on December 21, 2018 by marissa smith

By Marissa J. Smith As Julian penned his request for a study on renewable energy potential to members of Mongolia’s cabinet and other relevant policy-makers two weeks ago, London stock exchange-listed  Petro Matad continued its campaign of exploration drilling in … Continue reading →

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Posted in China, Energy, Foreign Investment, Foreign Policy, India, Oil, Russia, Trade | Tagged | Leave a comment

Party Implications of SME Fund Scandal

Posted on November 20, 2018 by Julian Dierkes

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 →

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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

Guest Post: An “Alternate Economy” Run by Chieftains

Posted on November 10, 2018 by Julian Dierkes

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 →

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Posted in Badrakh Naidalaa, Business, Corruption, Diversification, Policy, Politics, Public Policy | 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 →

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

Protests… and then?

Posted on October 23, 2018 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes I have recently written about widespread political frustration in 2018 and speculated on the kind of events/issues that might trigger mass protests. Now, let me consider what would happen in the event of such protests. I am only … Continue reading →

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Posted in Civil Society, Corruption, Democracy, Human Rights, Inequality, JD Democratization, Judiciary, Nationalism, Policy, Politics, Protest, Public Opinion, Security Apparatus, Social Movements, Ulaanbaatar, Younger Mongolians | Tagged | Leave a comment

Technology Assessment Needed: Solar Power

Posted on October 18, 2018 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes To: PM Khurelsukh CC: Minister of Energy Davaasuren; Min of Science Tsogzolmaa; Min of Environment Tserenbat, Officer of Intl Cooperation, Min of Environment, G Tsogtbaatar; Min of Light Industry Batzorig; Dir, External Affairs, Green Climate Fund Oyun Climate … Continue reading →

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Posted in China, Climate Change, Countryside, Development, Diversification, Environmental Movements, Geography, Gobi, Infrastructure, Renewables, Russia, Sovereign Wealth Fund | Tagged | Leave a comment

Employment

Posted on August 30, 2018 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes I have been encountering “unemployment” as a political challenge in Mongolia for many years. Most recently, in a set of six workshops on policy-making and political parties organized by the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation Mongolia for the Mongolian People’s Party youth organization (НАМЗХ) and the Trade Union … Continue reading →

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Posted in Business, Countryside, Diversification, Economics, Employment, Policy, Public Policy | Tagged | Leave a comment

Rio Tinto in Mongolia

Posted on July 10, 2018 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes Recently, Bulgan B and I pointed out that there have been as many CEOs at Oyu Tolgoi over the past ten years as there have been PMs of Mongolia. I also appeared on a live BBC radio … Continue reading →

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Posted in Foreign Investment, International Agreements, Mining, Mining, Mining Governance, Nationalism, Oyu Tolgoi, Policy | Tagged | Leave a comment