Contradictions of Populism and Resource Extraction: Examining the Intersection of Resource Nationalism and Accumulation by Dispossession in Mongolia

Abstract

We examine contradictions of populism and resource extraction in Mongolia in the context of the recent presidential election of Khaltmaa Battulga, who is often portrayed as dangerously populist. We consider Battulga’s victory as an echo of Mongolian voters’ sense of dispossession and discontent driven by gross wealth disparity and precarious livelihoods. Rather than treating these concerns as mere tools of the populist political agenda, we view them as moments of resistance to the asymmetry between accumulation and dispossession in Mongolia, a central outcome of twenty-five years of the neoliberal regime. We situate our analysis of Mongolia’s resource politics through an examination of the world’s second largest undeveloped copper–gold mine, Oyu Tolgoi. The mine offers a window into the country’s turbulent resource politics that has concentrated wealth among a powerful few while nearly one third of Mongolians remain trapped in vicious poverty. Relying on fieldwork conducted over several years, the article argues that public grievances against the asymmetry of accumulation and dispossession are routinely discounted by discursive tools within the populist paradigm. “Resource nationalism,” in particular, is used by those who promote neoliberalism and the open market as a pejorative label to silence public grievances. Key Words: accumulation by dispossession, Mongolia, Oyu Tolgoi, populism, resource nationalism.

我们检视经常被描绘成高度危险的民粹主义者——哈勒特马．巴特图勒嘎（Khaltmaa Battulga）在蒙古的晚近总统选举脉络下, 民粹主义与资源搾取之间的冲突。我们将巴特图勒嘎的胜利, 视为蒙古选民对严重的财富不均和不稳定的生计所导致的剥夺感和不满之反应。我们并非将这些考量视为仅只是民粹政治议程的工具, 而是将其视为对蒙古的积累与剥夺之间的不对称之反抗时刻, 该现象是长达二十五年的新自由主义体制所造成的主要结果。我们通过检视世界第二大尚未开发的铜金矿奥尤陶勒盖（Oyu Tolgoi）来定位蒙古的资源政治。该矿场提供窥探蒙古财富聚焦少数有权力者、但近乎三分之一的蒙古人仍深陷极度贫穷的动盪资源政治的一扇窗。本文根据若干年的田野工作, 主张公众对于不对等的积累与剥夺之不满, 一再受到民粹主义范式的论述工具所贬抑。特别是“资源国族主义”被提倡新自由主义者与市场开放者用来作为使公众不满消音的贬抑标籤。关键词：掠夺式积累, 蒙古, 奥尤陶勒盖, 民粹主义, 资源国族主义。

Examinamos las contradicciones del populismo y la extracción de recursos en Mongolia en el contexto de la reciente elección presidencial de Khaltmaa Battulga, quien a menudo es retratado como peligrosamente populista. Consideramos la victoria de Battulga como un eco del sentido de desposesión y descontento de los votantes de Mongolia, motivado por la desigualdad bruta de la riqueza y los precarios niveles de vida. Más que tratar estas preocupaciones como simples herramientas de la agenda política populista, las consideramos como momentos de resistencia a la asimetría entre acumulación y desposesión en Mongolia, un resultado principal de veinticinco años de régimen neoliberal. Situamos nuestro análisis de la política de los recursos de Mongolia por medio de un examen de la segunda más grande mina subdesarrollada de cobre-oro del mundo, Oyu Tolgoi. La mina es una ventana hacia la turbulenta política de los recursos del país que ha concentrado la riqueza entre unos pocos poderosos mientras que cerca de un tercio de los mongoles siguen atrapados en una pobreza descomunal. Dependiendo del trabajo de campo conducido durante varios años, el artículo arguye que las quejas públicas contra la asimetría de la acumulación y la desposesión son rutinariamente descartadas con herramientas discursivas dentro del paradigma populista. EL “nacionalismo de los recursos,” en particular, es usado por quienes promueven el neoliberalismo y el libre mercado como etiqueta peyorativa para silenciar los reclamos públicos. Palabras clave: acumulación por desposesión, Mongolia, nacionalismo de los recursos, Oyu Tolgoi, populismo.

Acknowledgments

All findings and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the authors. We thank Ronald Davidson, Rebecca Watters, and Brent White for reading various versions of the article and providing much appreciated suggestions and edits. We also thank the three anonymous reviewers and James McCarthy for their helpful feedback.

Notes

1 Enkhbold served as prime minister of Mongolia and is the current speaker of the Parliament. His party won a landslide in 2016 parliamentary elections.

2 Battulga’s “Mongolia First” slogan appealed to anti-Chinese sentiment that runs deep in Mongolia, alluding to the fact that Enkhbold was half-Chinese with questionable national allegiance (Soni 2017).

3 The election was one of the most contentious elections in Mongolia’s recent history. In the first ever run-off election, Battulga won with 50.6 percent.

4 Orhon Myadar has been studying Mongolian politics since 2005 and Sara Jackson has been studying Mongolian resource politics since 2009.

5 At an investor conference in 2005, Friedland reportedly compared OT to making a $5 T-shirt and selling it for $100.

6 Radchenko and Jargalsaikhan (2017) argued that Mongolia’s relatively peaceful transitions have been due to fractured micropolitics among political parties, preventing one person or party from emerging as the dominant force. This fractured context arguably facilitated Battulga’s emergence.

7 Bayartsogt Sangajav, who served in the Bayar cabinet as finance security, was also arrested and detained.

8 At the time of writing this article, all three were released on bail and barred from leaving the country.

9 In the first round, Mongolian People’s Republic Party’s Ganbaatar Sainkhuu received the most votes in Umnugovi. Formerly an independent candidate, Ganbaatar was recruited and nominated at the last minute when MPRP’s only viable candidate, Nambar Enkhbayar, could not run because of his prior conviction for corruption. Ganbaatar is an ardent resource nationalist and a vocal critic of OT. Changing his party affiliation did not play in his favor—nor did a video that implicated him in accepting illicit campaign donations from a member of the Unification Church of Korea, which is considered a cult in Mongolia.

10 A soum is the Mongolian equivalent of a county.

11 Although OT is not the only mining company in the area and should not be solely blamed, it remains the biggest mining operation in the area.

12 If 10 percent of voters submit tsagaan songolt, the presidential election is invalidated.

Additional information

Funding

We thank the following funding sources for making various phases of the research possible: the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, York University; a Field Research Fellowship from the American Center for Mongolian Studies; the Henry Luce Foundation; the U.S.–Mongolia Field Research Fellowship Program (sponsored by the American Center for Mongolian Studies, the Council of American Overseas Research Centers and the U.S. State Department Educational and Cultural Affairs Bureau); Metropolitan State University of Denver; Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge; and School of Geography and Development, University of Arizona.

Notes on contributors

Orhon Myadar

ORHON MYADAR is an Assistant Professor in the School of Geography and Development at the University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research interests include border, mobility, displacement, and resource politics.

Sara Jackson

SARA JACKSON is a Geography Lecturer in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Metropolitan State University of Denver, Denver, CO 80217. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research interests include political and cultural geographies of resource extraction in Mongolia and sustainable infrastructure in Denver, Colorado.