Category Archives: Research on Mongolia

The Military, Populism, and Trepidation about Single-Party Rule

Posted on April 20, 2021 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes and Marissa J. Smith The constitutional amendments of Nov 2019 seemed to result from a bargain between Pres. Battulga and the MPP that would allow him to run for another term under the new six-year single term. … Continue reading →

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Posted in Constitution, Democracy, Democratic Party, Elections, History, JD Democratization, Military, Mongolian People's Party, Party Politics, Populism, Presidential 2021 | Tagged | Leave a comment

Stability of Presidential Election System

Posted on March 29, 2021 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes In June, Mongolians will participate in a presidential election again. The electoral system has remained largely unchanged since the first free election in 1993. In late January 2021 a conference on “Democratic Challenges in Asia and Mongolia” … Continue reading →

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Posted in Democracy, Elections, JD Democratization, Party Politics, Populism, Presidential 2021, Research on Mongolia | Tagged | Leave a comment

Presidential Election Outlook

Posted on March 19, 2021 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes Parties will nominate candidates my May 2 before Mongolians will vote on a new president on June 9, 2021. Depending on the outcome of the election this will be the 5th or 6th president since the democratic … Continue reading →

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Posted in Democracy, Democratic Party, Foreign Policy, JD Democratization, Military, Mongolian People's Party, Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, National Labor Party, Presidential 2021 | Tagged | Leave a comment

PM Khurelsukh Resigns Suddenly

Posted on January 21, 2021 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes Over 30 years of Mongolia’s democratic history we have seen a lot of surprising developments. By comparison, recent months seemed relatively calm. The Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) cruised to a first-ever consecutive election victory, seemingly on the … Continue reading →

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Posted in Health, JD Democratization, Mongolian People's Party, Party Politics, Politics, Presidential 2021, Protest, Social Movements | Tagged | Leave a comment

2020 Mongolia Focus in Review

Posted on January 4, 2021 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes This summer, we will celebrate the tenth anniversary of our blog, though one would have to be very hopeful that this will involve a reunion of our regular authors together in one place. It will also be … Continue reading →

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Posted in Reflection, Research on Mongolia, Social Media | Leave a comment

Democratic Convulsions

Posted on November 7, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes Two ongoing convulsions of democracy are having me reflect on Mongolia, elections, and political system challenges: the U.S. and Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyzstan According to Katie Putz, one of the choices that is coming out of the revolutionary upheavals … Continue reading →

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Posted in Democracy, Elections, JD Democratization, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia and ..., Politics, United States | Leave a comment

Campaign Strategies under Bloc Voting

Posted on June 17, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes One of the great puzzles of the Mongolian electoral system choice of multi-member pluralities is how to run a strategic campaign for a party. If I imagined myself to be a campaign operator, what would I do? … Continue reading →

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Posted in Democratic Party, Elections, Ikh Khural 2020, JD Democratization, Mongolian People's Party, Party Politics, Politics | Tagged | Leave a comment

Parties and Candidate Demography Update

Posted on June 5, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes The final list of 606 approved candidates was released at the beginning of the week and we, here at Mongolia Focus, are still processing the approval or lack thereof of certain candidates. The picture has changed a … Continue reading →

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Posted in Ikh Khural 2020, JD Democratization | Tagged | Leave a comment

Historical Memories: Contemporary Perspectives on Choibalsan

Posted on May 14, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes, Kenny Linden and Marissa Smith In a series of tweets Kenny Linden pointed to a puzzle that many of us who regularly interact with contemporary Mongolia, namely what would be termed Vergangenheitsbewältigung in German (coming to terms … Continue reading →

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Posted in Dissertation Ideas, History, Kenneth Linden, Research on Mongolia, Social Issues | Tagged | Leave a comment

Regionalization, Internationalisms, and Mongolia’s Almost Century-Old Mining Sector

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

By Marissa J. Smith In English-language scholarship, Mongolia’s political-economic system has often been characterized as democratic and market-driven. Though not untrue, this characterization casts Mongolia as a unified entity, which redirects attention from how Mongolia is also regionalized, with an … Continue reading →

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Posted in Economics, Erdenet, Ethnic Groups, Geography, History, JD Mining Governance, Mining, Population, Publications, Research on Mongolia | Tagged | Leave a comment

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

Comparative Electoral Systems

Posted on March 5, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes I am an avid listener of podcasts. Unfortunately, Mongolia only makes a rare appearance in English-language podcasts. I’ve long thought abt podcast bringing social science disciplinary interests into more dialogue w/ area knowledge. Just had wonderful conversation … Continue reading →

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Posted in Constitution, Democracy, Elections, Governance, Ikh Khural 2020, Party Politics, Podcast, Politics, Research on Mongolia | Leave a comment

Constitutional Reforms and Political Party Creation

Posted on February 9, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes and Gerelt-Od Erdenebileg The Mongolian Parliament has passed a number of constitutional amendments on November 14, 2019. Elements of this constitutional reform had been discussed by many political parties and politicians for the last twenty years. Among … Continue reading →

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Posted in Constitution, Democracy, Elections, Gerelt-Od Erdenebileg, Governance, JD Democratization, Party Politics, Politics | Tagged | Leave a comment

Summer 2020 Field Schools

Posted on February 4, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

By Marissa J. Smith Interested in educational travel to Mongolia this summer? We will be holding a webinar about field schools Wednesday, February 5, at 4 PM Pacific Time/Thursday, February 6, at 8 AM in Ulaanbaatar. The American Center for … Continue reading →

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Posted in American Center for Mongolian Studies, Research on Mongolia | Tagged | Leave a comment

2019 Mongolia Focus in Review

Posted on January 1, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes Our blog is in its 9th year. We smashed through our 600th post this year. Most notably we were recognized through a Public Outreach Award from the Central Eurasian Studies Society. Mendee defended his PhD. I’d say, … Continue reading →

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Posted in Reflection, Research on Mongolia, Social Media | Tagged | Leave a comment