Moral Economic Transitions in the Mongolian Borderlands

Since the early 1990s, Mongolia began its hopeful transition from socialism to a market democracy, becoming increasingly dependent on international mining revenue. Both shifts were promised to herald a new age of economic plenty for all. Now, roughly 30 years on, many of Mongolia’s poor and rural fe...

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Egile nagusia: Waters, Hedwig Amelia
Formatua: Online
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Argitaratua: UCL Press 2023
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Sarrera elektronikoa:https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/63661
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author Waters, Hedwig Amelia
author_browse Waters, Hedwig Amelia
author_facet Waters, Hedwig Amelia
author_sort Waters, Hedwig Amelia
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description Since the early 1990s, Mongolia began its hopeful transition from socialism to a market democracy, becoming increasingly dependent on international mining revenue. Both shifts were promised to herald a new age of economic plenty for all. Now, roughly 30 years on, many of Mongolia’s poor and rural feel that they have been forgotten. Moral Economic Transitions in the Mongolian Borderlands describes these shifts from the viewpoint of the self-proclaimed ‘excluded’: the rural township of Magtaal on the Chinese border. In the wake of socialism, the population of this resource-rich area found itself without employment and state institutions, yet surrounded by lush nature 30 kilometres from the voracious Chinese market. A two-tiered resource-extractive political-economic system developed. Whilst large-scale, formal, legally sanctioned conglomerates arrived to extract oil and land for international profits, the local residents grew increasingly dependent on the Chinese-funded informal, illegal cross-border wildlife trade. More than a story about rampant capitalist extraction in the resource frontier, this book intimately details the complex inner worlds, moral ambiguities and emergent collective politics constructed by individuals who feel caught in political-economic shifts largely outside of their control. Offering much needed nuance to commonplace descriptions of Mongolia’s post-socialist transition, this study presents rich ethnographic detail through the eyes and voices of the state’s most geographically marginalized. It is of interest not only to experts of political-economy and post-socialist transition, but also to non-academic readers intrigued by the interplay of value(s) and capitalism.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1012112025-07-17T10:01:05Z Moral Economic Transitions in the Mongolian Borderlands Waters, Hedwig Amelia anthropology;social anthropology;Mongolia;Asia;economics;migration;trade;ethnography;Moral economy;economic development;political economy;wildlife trade;credit and debt;border;Chinese border;rural;cross-border trade;moralities and ethics;illegality and informality;post-socialism;politics of distribution;the commons;peasant studies;sovereign wealth;share-holding;economics of sharing thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHM Anthropology::JHMC Social and cultural anthropology thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHM Anthropology::JHMC Social and cultural anthropology Since the early 1990s, Mongolia began its hopeful transition from socialism to a market democracy, becoming increasingly dependent on international mining revenue. Both shifts were promised to herald a new age of economic plenty for all. Now, roughly 30 years on, many of Mongolia’s poor and rural feel that they have been forgotten. Moral Economic Transitions in the Mongolian Borderlands describes these shifts from the viewpoint of the self-proclaimed ‘excluded’: the rural township of Magtaal on the Chinese border. In the wake of socialism, the population of this resource-rich area found itself without employment and state institutions, yet surrounded by lush nature 30 kilometres from the voracious Chinese market. A two-tiered resource-extractive political-economic system developed. Whilst large-scale, formal, legally sanctioned conglomerates arrived to extract oil and land for international profits, the local residents grew increasingly dependent on the Chinese-funded informal, illegal cross-border wildlife trade. More than a story about rampant capitalist extraction in the resource frontier, this book intimately details the complex inner worlds, moral ambiguities and emergent collective politics constructed by individuals who feel caught in political-economic shifts largely outside of their control. Offering much needed nuance to commonplace descriptions of Mongolia’s post-socialist transition, this study presents rich ethnographic detail through the eyes and voices of the state’s most geographically marginalized. It is of interest not only to experts of political-economy and post-socialist transition, but also to non-academic readers intrigued by the interplay of value(s) and capitalism. 2023-07-10T07:36:00Z 2023-07-10T07:36:00Z 2023-06-22T12:46:49Z 2023 book https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/63661 9781787358157 9781787358140 9781787358164 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/101211 eng Economic Exposures in Asia open access image/jpeg image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/63661/1/9781787358133.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/63661/1/9781787358133.pdf UCL Press 10.14324/111.9781787358133 10.14324/111.9781787358133 29b9f0a3-1b0d-4bdd-99d7-b4d3432d7fcc 9781787358157 9781787358140 9781787358164 214 London open access
spellingShingle anthropology;social anthropology;Mongolia;Asia;economics;migration;trade;ethnography;Moral economy;economic development;political economy;wildlife trade;credit and debt;border;Chinese border;rural;cross-border trade;moralities and ethics;illegality and informality;post-socialism;politics of distribution;the commons;peasant studies;sovereign wealth;share-holding;economics of sharing
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHM Anthropology::JHMC Social and cultural anthropology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHM Anthropology::JHMC Social and cultural anthropology
Waters, Hedwig Amelia
Moral Economic Transitions in the Mongolian Borderlands
title Moral Economic Transitions in the Mongolian Borderlands
title_full Moral Economic Transitions in the Mongolian Borderlands
title_fullStr Moral Economic Transitions in the Mongolian Borderlands
title_full_unstemmed Moral Economic Transitions in the Mongolian Borderlands
title_short Moral Economic Transitions in the Mongolian Borderlands
title_sort moral economic transitions in the mongolian borderlands
topic anthropology;social anthropology;Mongolia;Asia;economics;migration;trade;ethnography;Moral economy;economic development;political economy;wildlife trade;credit and debt;border;Chinese border;rural;cross-border trade;moralities and ethics;illegality and informality;post-socialism;politics of distribution;the commons;peasant studies;sovereign wealth;share-holding;economics of sharing
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHM Anthropology::JHMC Social and cultural anthropology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHM Anthropology::JHMC Social and cultural anthropology
topic_facet anthropology;social anthropology;Mongolia;Asia;economics;migration;trade;ethnography;Moral economy;economic development;political economy;wildlife trade;credit and debt;border;Chinese border;rural;cross-border trade;moralities and ethics;illegality and informality;post-socialism;politics of distribution;the commons;peasant studies;sovereign wealth;share-holding;economics of sharing
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHM Anthropology::JHMC Social and cultural anthropology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHM Anthropology::JHMC Social and cultural anthropology
url https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/63661
work_keys_str_mv AT watershedwigamelia moraleconomictransitionsinthemongolianborderlands