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Original Articles

Why Mongolia? The political culture of an emerging democracy

Pages 19-36 | Published online: 01 Jul 2010

References

  • Lipset , Seymour Martin . 1994 . 'The social requisites of democracy revisited: 1993 presidential address' . Americans Sociological Review , 59 : 1 – 22 .
  • Fish , M. Steven . 1998 . 'Mongolia: democracy without prerequisites' . Journal of Democracy , 9 ( 3 ) : 127 – 140 .
  • 1999 . 'Mongolia: an improbable textbook case' . The Economist , 3 July : 34
  • Diamond , Larry . 1996 . 'Is the third wave over?' . Journal of Democracy , 7 July : 23 – 24 .
  • Huntington , Samuel P. 1997 . 'After twenty years: the future of the third wave' . Journal of Democracy , 8 October : 3 – 12 .
  • There is evidence that democratic behaviour of the MPRP is slipping. The arrest of E. Bat-Uul, former Member of Parliament, for disorderly conduct in an Ulaanbaatar restaurant illustrates the fact that habeas corpus is not part of Mongolian law or practice. Although Bat-Uul was not charged or detained for the restaurant incident, he was held in prison over a month for his possible involvement in the death of Mongolia's political hero, Zorig, the previous year (The Mongol Messenger, 23 August 2000, p 1; Mongoliathisweek, www.mongoliathisweek.mn/bat4.htm (24 August 2000)). Recent news suggests that freedom of the media is being challenged (8 January 2002, email from Margarita [email protected]). However, government behaviour does not necessarily reflect popular culture
  • Email Daily News (2000), [email protected].
  • 1992 . Lewellen's definition of culture (Ted C. Lewellen, Political Anthropology, An Introduction , 97 Westport , CT : Bergin Garvey . is an extension of Sir E.B. TyIor's original definition, 'that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society'
  • Tylor , E.B. 1871 . Primitive Culture , 1 London : J. Murray . For ways of analyzing political culture,
  • McGlynn , Frank and luden , Arthur , eds. 1991 . Anthropological Approaches to Political Behavior , 29 – 30 . Pittsburgh : University of Pittsburgh Press .
  • Rupnik , Jacques . 1999 . 'The postcommunist divide' . Journal of Democracy , 10 January : 61 – 62 .
  • Marx , Karl and Engels , Friedrich . 1978 . “ 'Critique of the Gotha program' ” . In The Marx-Engles Reader , 2nd edn , Edited by: Tucker , Robert C. New York : W.W. Norton . Hongorzol appears to be twisting Lenin's interpretation of Marx [1875])). Lenin (Vladimir Lenin, 'The higher phase of communist society', in The State and Revolution, 1917, ch 5, http://csf.colorado.edu/mirrors/marxists.org/archive/; lenin/works/1917/sep/staterev/ch05.htm#s4) defines democracy as the abolition of classes and economic equality. True equality means that even when people are different (produce at different rates and have different needs), they receive what they need from the bounty of the state. However, according to Hongorzol, under decades of Soviet planned economies and accompanying hardship, equality came to mean that people share the shortages equally
  • Myers , Sondra , ed. 1996 . Democracy is a Discussion , Vol. 9 , New London , CT : Connecticut College . The four pillars of democracy are derived from various authors in1998). In Vol 1, articles on this topic by Elshtain, Michnik, Zakaria and Palous were used. In Vol 2, some relevant articles were written by Katz, Zakaria, Barber and Dworkin. These 'pillars' or benchmarks, consolidate most of Diamond's (op cit, note 3) list of qualifications.
  • Maiiski , I.M. 1960 . Mongolia nakanune revolutsii (Mongolia Before the Revolution) , Moscow : Izdatel'stvo Bostochoi Literaturi .
  • 1998 . Mongolian Statistical Yearbook 1997 , Ulaanbaatar : National Statistics Office of Mongolia .
  • 2000 . Mongolian Statistical Yearbook 1999 , 29 Ulaanbaatar : National Statistics Office of Mongolia .
  • 2001 . The Main Results: 2000 Census , SO Ulaanbaatar : National Statistics Office of Mongolia .
  • Sabloff , Paula L.W. 1996 . 'Differential distribution of political knowledge . Political and Legal Anthropology ReviewPoLAR) , 22 : 123 – 127 .
  • Ratchnevsky , Paul . 1997 . Genghis Khan: His Life and Legacy , 89 Oxford : Blackwell . Some historians interpret this title to mean strong, firm leader
  • Sanders , Alan J.K. 1996 . Historical Dictionary of Mongolia , 76 Lanham , MD : Scarecrow Press . while others say it means Ruler of the Oceans or Universal Ruler
  • Morgan , David . 1990 . The Mongols , 60 Cambridge , MA : Blackwell . Rashid ad-Din in Ratchnevsky (op cit, p 90)
  • Crossen , Cynthia . 2000 . The Rich and How They Cot That Way , 29 – 34 . New York : Crown Business .
  • Edwards , Mike . 1996 . 'Genghis Khan: Lord of the Mongols' . National Geographic , 190 ( 6 ) : 9 – 37 .
  • Cleaves , Francis Woodman . 1982 . The Secret History of the Mongols Vol. 1 , 153 – 54 . 189 200 Cambridge , MA ; Morgan, op cit, note 24, pp 61-69
  • 1990 . Academy of Sciences MPR, Information Mongolia , 98 – 101 . Oxford : Pergamon Press .
  • Bacon , Elizabeth E. 1958 . Obok: A Study of Social Structure in Eurasia , 57 New York : Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research . Prior to Genghis Khan's rule, the noble family of a tribe provided the tribal ruler, or khan. However, unlike Europe where primogeniture was the rule of succession, any male descendant of a noble family qualified to succeed the ruler. One ancestor selected the son of his grandfather's younger brother; that ruler designated two sons of the original ruler to succeed him. At least one khan was selected by a formal assembly of Mongols (the text does not specify whether they are the clan chiefs or all men) from among the male kin of the deceased khan based on Cleaves, op cit, note 29, sect 57
  • Finer , S.E. 1999 . The History of Government from Earliest Times , Vol. 1 , 341 – 68 . Oxford : Oxford University Press . We consider ancient Athens to be the first democracy, yet only men who were not slaves could take up citizenship responsibilities and vote; women and slaves were not allowed to participate in the democratic process. Americans trace the beginning of our concept of participatory democracy to King John's reign, although the king shared power only with the barons
  • 1987 . The American School of Classical Studies, The Athenian Citizen Princeton , NJ
  • There is a long-standing debate as to the egalitarian nature of pastoral nomad societies. While some appear egalitarian in that they exhibit 'a political system without an authority hierarchy, in which men and their families are on politically equal terms and can act with autonomy, and in which stratification is absent', others are hierarchical (Philip Salzman, 'Is inequality universal?', Current Anthropology, Vol 40, 1999, pp 31-61, see p 42). The Secret History of the Mongols (Cleaves, op cit, note 29) makes clear that the Mongol tribes preceding the rise of Genghis Khan were hierarchical. Although their leadership structure had broken down in the 12th century, there was still a nobility of lineages and clans. Genghi s Khan's father was part of this nobility. Despite this hierarchy of lineages, Mongol tribesmen exhibited certain egalitarian (democratic) tendencies characteristic of pastoral nomads: individual and democratic decision-making (nomads vote with their feet; they simply walk away from situations or decisions they do not like), lack of a centralized means of coercion, group decision-making for major decisions such as selecting a leader. See Salzman (op cit) and Bacon (op cit, note 31) for a review of the literature on the relationship between egalitarianism and pastoral nomad societies.
  • Havel , Václav . 1998 . “ 'The state of the republic' ” . In Democracy is a Discussion , Edited by: Myers , Sondra . Vol. 2 , 27 – 28 . New London , CT : Connecticut College .
  • Kohak , Erazim . 1996 . “ 'The faces of democracy-looking to the twenty-first century' ” . In Democracy is a Discussion , Edited by: Myers , Sondra . Vol. 1 , 3 – 4 . New London , CT : Connecticut College .
  • Ibid, p 15, footnote 44.
  • Watson , Rubie S. , ed. 1994 . Memory, History, and Opposition , Santa Fe , NM : School of American Research .

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