Category Archives: Social Issues

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

Cars in Mongolia

By Julian Dierkes Our image of Mongolia may be dominated by horses as a part of the landscape, but also as a mode of transport. But, of course, motorized transport is very common place today. Development Stages and Motorization I … Continue reading

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

Where did the Conspiracy Conspiracy Come From?

By Julian Dierkes Mongolia is not unique in the presence of conspiracy theories, nor in the presence of events and factors in those events that may lend themselves to conspiracy theories. Yet, in my experience, conspiracy theories have become dominant … Continue reading

Posted in Corruption, Curios, History, JD Democratization, JD Mining Governance, Party Politics, Politics, Pop Culture, Social Issues, Social Media | Tagged | 1 Comment

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

My Biggest Question about the Election

By Julian Dierkes Of course, it is interesting to speculate about the likelihood of one candidate or another winning the election. On that front, a week into the campaign, an Enkhbold victory still seems more likely, though a second round … Continue reading

Posted in Corruption, Democracy, Party Politics, Politics, Populism, Presidential 2017, Protest, Social Change, Social Issues, Social Movements | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Negative Income Tax I – Redistribution in Expanding Economies

By Ulrich Andree Note: This is the first of three articles. For the extended original article see LinkedIn. The forthcoming posts will focus on (dis)advantages of a negative income tax, and on the implementation of a negative income tax in … Continue reading

Posted in Demography, Development, Economics, Policy, Public Policy, Public Service, Social Change, Social Issues, Taxes, Ullrich Andree | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Negative Income Tax II – Advantages and Disadvantages

By Ulrich Andree Note: This is the second of three articles. For the extended original article see LinkedIn. The previous post focused on redistribution and the concept of an NIT. The final article will focus on the implementation of an NIT … Continue reading

Posted in Demography, Development, Economics, Health, Inequality, Policy, Public Policy, Public Service, Social Change, Social Issues, Taxes, Ullrich Andree | Leave a comment

Funny Thing Happened Last Week: John Oliver, Dalai Lama, Mongolia

By Julian Dierkes One of the reasons I encourage graduate students to be strategic about communicating their research results is that you never know when and on what topic the public comes knocking on your door. Sometimes the public comes … Continue reading

Posted in Curios, Dalai Lama, Health, Media and Press, Pop Culture, Social Issues, Social Media, United States | Tagged | Leave a comment

Anti-Chinese Attitudes in Mongolia through Generational Imprinting

By Mendee Jargalsaikhan A few years back, Julian introduced me the concept of generational imprints and pointed out the work of Karl Mannheim.  Mannheim (Essays on the Sociology of Knowledge. Routledge: 1952) defined a generation as a social creation and argued that … Continue reading

Posted in China, Nationalism, Politics, Social Issues | Tagged | 1 Comment

Navigating by Fibreoptic Cable

[Somehow this post got stuck in the drafts folder on the blog dashboard in July 2013 and lingered there for quite some time until I found it again in summer 2016.] Pardon the very general and somewhat cranky, er, excursion here… … Continue reading

Posted in Countryside, Nomadism, Social Issues, Tourism | Tagged | Leave a comment

Changing of the DP Guard?

By Julian Dierkes My sense is that there is not only significant frustration with the concrete implementation of democracy and its institutions in Mongolia, but more specifically with the two big political parties, MAHAH. One of the frustrations I have … Continue reading

Posted in Democracy, Democratic Party, Demography, Ikh Khural 2016, Politics, Social Issues, Younger Mongolians | Tagged | Leave a comment

Mongolia in the Panama Papers

By Julian Dierkes Since the #PanamaPapers scandal broke there has been speculation about any Mongolian entanglements in the dealings of the Mossack Fonseca law firm. With the release of further information on May 9, that speculation has been fed by some … Continue reading

Posted in Corruption, Law, Media and Press, Social Issues | Tagged | 2 Comments

National Survey of Mongolian Public Opinion

By Bulgan B and Julian Dierkes Just three weeks after Santmaral’s PolitBarometer came out, we have another indicator of Mongolian public opinion, courtesy of IRI with funding from the Canadian government, the “National Survey of Mongolian Public Opinion”. (Full Results … Continue reading

Posted in Aimags, Countryside, Democracy, Democratic Party, Ikh Khural 2016, Media and Press, Mining Governance, Party Politics, Public Opinion, Research on Mongolia, Security Apparatus, Social Issues | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Fundraiser for Veloo Foundation’s Children of the Peak Sanctuary Project

Postponed to Later in 2016!!! The Veloo Foundation is hosting a fundraiser in Vancouver on April 23 to benefit its Children of the Peak Sanctuary. Traditional Mongolian music, food and dance will be on offer. For more information see Veloo … Continue reading

Posted in Social Issues | Leave a comment

Learning about Development Policy in Uvs Aimag

I just visited Uvs province in Western Mongolia for the first time and had the chance to meet with stakeholder representatives from government, civil society, small businesses, and the corporate sector to learn about their development policy. Fascinating 1st visit … Continue reading

Posted in CIRDI, Civil Society, Countryside, Development, Mining, Policy, Policy, Regulation, Social Issues, Social Movements, Water | Tagged | 2 Comments