Mongolia and the UK in the 20th Century


Book Description

This book explores the history of Mongolia's relations with external powers via the prism of the relationship with the UK, drawing on archival documents and other historical resources in different languages such as Russian, Chinese and Mongolian. From the early history of the Mongolian state as part of the socialist alliance, Mongolia has had relations with the UK, which was the first western nation to recognize Mongolian independence in 1963. The evolving political situation in Mongolia and the world is here refracted through the relationship with the UK. Further, it introduces readers to the cultural and ideological differences between Mongolian foreign relations belong to different historical periods. This book will be of interest to scholars of Asia, of the post-socialist world, and of the role of the UK in the world.




Mongolia and the UK in the 20th Century


Book Description

This book explores the history of Mongolia's relations with external powers via the prism of the relationship with the UK, drawing on archival documents and other historical resources in different languages such as Russian, Chinese and Mongolian. From the early history of the Mongolian state as part of the socialist alliance, Mongolia has had relations with the UK, which was the first western nation to recognize Mongolian independence in 1963. The evolving political situation in Mongolia and the world is here refracted through the relationship with the UK. Further, it introduces readers to the cultural and ideological differences between Mongolian foreign relations belong to different historical periods. This book will be of interest to scholars of Asia, of the post-socialist world, and of the role of the UK in the world.




Socialist Revolutions in Asia


Book Description

Contemporary Mongolia is often seen as one of the most open and democratic societies in Asia, undergoing remarkable post-socialist transformation. Based on original material from the former Soviet and Mongolian archives, this book is the first full length post-Cold War study on the history of the Mongolian People’s Republic.




Mongolia


Book Description

Mongolia remains a beautiful barren land of spectacularly clothed horse-riders, nomadic romance and windswept landscape. But modern Mongolia is now caught between two giants: China and Russia; and known to be home to enormous mineral resources they are keen to exploit. China is expanding economically into the region, buying up mining interests and strengthening its control over Inner Mongolia. Michael Dillon, one of the foremost experts on the region, seeks to tell the modern history of this fascinating country. He investigates its history of repression, the slaughter of the country's Buddhists, its painful experiences under Soviet rule and dictatorship, and its history of corruption. But there is hope for its future, and it now has a functioning parliamentary democracy which is broadly representative of Mongolia's ethnic mix. How long that can last is another question. Short, sharp and authoritative, Mongolia will become the standard text on the region as it becomes begins to shape world affairs.




Mongolia and the UK in the 20th Century


Book Description

This book explores the history of Mongolia's relations with external powers via the prism of the relationship with the UK, drawing on archival documents and other historical resources in different languages such as Russian, Chinese and Mongolian. From the early history of the Mongolian state as part of the socialist alliance, Mongolia has had relations with the UK, which was the first western nation to recognize Mongolian independence in 1963. The evolving political situation in Mongolia and the world is here refracted through the relationship with the UK. Further, it introduces readers to the cultural and ideological differences between Mongolian foreign relations belong to different historical periods. This book will be of interest to scholars of Asia, of the post-socialist world, and of the role of the UK in the world. Dr Zolboo Dashnyam is Associate Professor, Director of the Institute of International Affairs, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Mongolia since 1997 and appointed as Director in 2018. He also served as Head of the Archival Unit at the Cabinet Secretariat, Mongolian Government and as a researcher at the National Archives of Mongolia and head of the Mongolian Centre of British Studies NGO. He received his Ph.D. in the History of Mongolian Foreign Relations from the National University of Mongolia in 2011. He was awarded by the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) fellow of the U.S. Department of State (2020), Chinese Studies fellowship of Taiwan (2018) and ITEC fellow of India (2016). He has written two monographs as an author and edited six books, and published roughly ten journal articles. He has been serving as Editor in Chief of the Journal of International Studies (in Mongolian) and the Mongolian Journal of International Affairs (in English) since 2018.




Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World


Book Description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The startling true history of how one extraordinary man from a remote corner of the world created an empire that led the world into the modern age—by the author featured in Echoes of the Empire: Beyond Genghis Khan. The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan subjugated more lands and people in twenty-five years than the Romans did in four hundred. In nearly every country the Mongols conquered, they brought an unprecedented rise in cultural communication, expanded trade, and a blossoming of civilization. Vastly more progressive than his European or Asian counterparts, Genghis Khan abolished torture, granted universal religious freedom, and smashed feudal systems of aristocratic privilege. From the story of his rise through the tribal culture to the explosion of civilization that the Mongol Empire unleashed, this brilliant work of revisionist history is nothing less than the epic story of how the modern world was made.




The Secret History of the Mongols


Book Description

This fresh translation of one of the only surviving Mongol sources about the Mongol empire, brings out the excitement of this epic with its wide-ranging commentaries on military and social conditions, religion and philosophy, while remaining faithful to the original text.




Language, Literacy, and Social Change in Mongolia


Book Description

Language, Literacy, and Social Change in Mongolia is the first full-length treatment of literacy in Mongolian. Challenging readers’ assumptions about Central Asia and Mongolia, this book focuses on Mongolians’ experiences with reading and writing throughout the past 100 years. Literacy, as a powerful historical and social variable, shows readers how reading and writing have shaped the lives of Mongolians and, at the same time, how reading and writing have been transformed by historical, political, economic, and other social forces. Mongolian literacy serves as an especially rich area of inquiry because of the dramatic political, economic, and social changes that occurred in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. For the seventy years during which Mongolia was a part of the communist Soviet world, literacy played an important role in how Mongolians identified themselves, conceived of the past, and created a new social order. Literacy was also a part of the story of authoritarianism and state violence. It was used to express the authority of the communist Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party, control the pastoral population, and suppress non-socialist beliefs and practices. Mongolians’ reading and writing opportunities and resources were tightly controlled, and the language policy of replacing the traditional Mongolian script with the Cyrillic alphabet immediately followed the violent repression of Buddhist leaders, government officials, and intellectuals. Beginning with the 1990 Democratic Revolution, Mongolians have been thrust into free-market capitalism, privatization, globalization, and neoliberalism. In post-socialist Mongolia, literacy no longer serves as the center for Mongolian identity. Government subsidies to pastoral literacy resources have been slashed, and administrators now find themselves competing with other “developing countries” for educational funding. Due to the pressures caused by globalization, Mongolians have begun to talk about literacy and language in terms of crisis and anxiety. As global flows of English compete with new symbols from the distant past, Mongolians worry about the perceived lowering standards of Mongolian linguistic usage amid rapid economic changes. These worries also reveal themselves in official language policies and manifest themselves in the multiple languages and scripts that appear in the capital of Ulaanbaatar and other urban areas.




Enlightenment and the Gasping City


Book Description

With air pollution now intimately affecting every resident of Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, Saskia Abrahms-Kavunenko seeks to understand how, as a physical constant throughout the winter months, the murky and obscuring nature of air pollution has become an active part of Mongolian religious and ritual life. Enlightenment and the Gasping City identifies air pollution as a boundary between the physical and the immaterial, showing how air pollution impresses itself on the urban environment as stagnation and blur. She explores how air pollution and related phenomena exist in dynamic tension with Buddhist ideas and practices concerning purification, revitalisation and enlightenment. By focusing on light, its intersections and its oppositions, she illuminates Buddhist practices and beliefs as they interact with the pressing urban issues of air pollution, post-socialist economic vacillations, urban development, nationalism, and climate change.




Historical Dictionary of the Mongol World Empire


Book Description

The Historical Dictionary of the Mongol World Empire examines the history of the Mongol Empire, the pre-imperial era of Mongolian history that preceded it, and the various Mongol successor states that continued to dominate Eurasia long after the breakdown of Mongol unity. This second edition contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 900 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture of the Mongol Empire. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the Mongol Empire.