IMPACT OF

NATIONAL IDENTITY

ON MODERN

MONGOLIAN

FOREIGN POLICY

G.Baasankhuu

Any national identity comes down from their

history, tradition, lifestyle and it can even appear in

their rituals through ethno genesis process which

would not change the people’s mindset and

intellectuals. In the process, by cultural behaviors

the historical ethnicity intellectual slowly adapts to

the new generations.

When the mindset is strongly combined with t

he national historical background, the

adaptation will increase upon new generations

with the help of ethical culture such as:

history, art, poetry, literature, myths, music,

and folk arts etc. This also fades into political

cultures. Any ethical psychology has a

complex phenomenon that includes two

structures which is static (long-term) or

dynamic (short-term).

In this brief presentation we will further

see what the Mongolian national identity

is, and how it affects the foreign policy.

But first of all let’s reconsider our

imagination and understandings toward

Mongolia.

Mongolia is a landlocked country located in East and Central Asia, bordering the Russian

Federation in the north and the PRC to the west and south. The country is mountainous with an

average altitude of 1580 meters above sea level. There are three mountain chains which is located in

the north and west. As for the Eastside, Gobi desert takes place. In the agriculture sector the main

harvesting crops are wheat and animal husbandry, as for mineral resources the mains would be coal,

copper and iron.

Mongolia has a continental climate, in the summer most of the country is very warm, but

in the winter it can turn into a quite opposite situation. In January the temperature is up to -30 Celsius.

The capital of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar is considered as the coldest capital in the world with long, cold

winters and short summers, during which most precipitation falls. The country averages 257 cloudless

days a year, and it is usually at the center of a region of high atmospheric pressure.

LanguageMongolia’s official language is

Mongolian and they use Cyrillic letters. 90% of

the population can speak Mongolian, but in the

region they have many accents as well. Some

groups also speak different languages for

example: to the western provinces of Mongolia,

the people speak Kazakh and Tuvan language.

English is the most common and used language

in this country, Russian comes in the second

place.

Mongolia’s

national identity

Mongolia’s common national identity figure is

originated from their mentality to survive in

chaotic nature conditions while living with a

nomadic lifestyle. The main fundamental that

made today’s unique Mongolian mindset is

nomadic that we use to conduct for over

hundreds of years. Mongolian herders

accumulate vast amounts of knowledge

about the use of their livestock in the conditions

given upon the four seasons. That is of course

how to raise and feed the animals on the right

land, pasture, and water, reproduce their skins

to make leather, get meat and milk out for their

own food supply. To increase shelter

supplements, artifacts, livestock equipment.

The harmonization between these skills and

nomadic lifestyle brought psychological

reactions of the Mongolian people and that has

become the foundation of today’s process.

Anyone can tell a Mongolian equanimity personality

anytime. For millions of years, people that lived in Mongolia had

made a mentality that adapts with their lifestyle in every way to

themselves. In other words, as for owners of the long continuous

lands, they always had a foreseeing vision; that never made

a quick decision at any point. Thought wisely at first for an

amount of period than considered all the threats etc. the nomadic

people had many life wise skills that they used. Nomadic life

features not only living process and life hacks but it is very

important to adapt to the place that you live anytime, anywhere.

Worshiping the nature and the nomadic life style are all connected

to each other. They have created a mentality to protect the nature

and to live with the given customs.

Г. Цэрэнханд, Монголчууд Угсаа - Соёл, Зан Заншил I (2005) 2

3-32-р тал

The nomadic mindset can also affect the modern societies living

habits. For example: Time management is a very tricky situation in this country.

This is also because cultural mindset in their veins. There were no 24 hours a day

back then, they starts at sunrise and counts by 4 hours which will continue as

evening, sunset and night.

This also can appear in European people as we know from his

story. But the opposite for Mongolians the people who follows their

sheeps in an unlimited borderless country the knowledge of the borders

and small areas are quite difficult. This example appeared in the 13th

century in Mongolian empire era.

That is why time counting is very different from the western

modern world we live in today. Not only time but concepts of geography

is also unique. Countries bordering the sea has very good knowledge of

geography and borders.

Like the citizens in

Japan, the country got stroked by

tsunamis, hurricanes and

earthquakes many times in the past

, but the peoples surviving skills

also increased due to the

circumstances that the nature

gives.

The way of living in Mongolian people use to be different. In

Asia they had a joint labor system as for Mongolian families it is

common to work alone. For example: The father herds his

horses, mother milks the cows and goats, grandparents look

after their grandchildren and the grandchildren herds the lambs etc.

this helps them to make a decision on their own. This also affects

the people nowadays. Another example given: During the end of

the cold war in 1990 the only country that had a

successful western democracy in Asia was Mongolia. In this

example you can see how Mongolian people can strive in

a situation.

Mongolian people lived a long side the herd and nature but

lived far long from each other. This was considered as

respecting each other’s authority. In the cold winter with

uninhabited plains they had to live as neighbors even when

they are even far from each other. This tradition had made

the Mongolians more curious in situations. Small population

with a broad land tends to make the people to have an

innocent and caring mindset. In almost 20 years, Mongolians

lost their hatred towards the Japanese and even voted them as

a very reliable country, in 2016.

Ever since the Mongolian empire has started the main foreign policies

were to have good political and economic relations with neighboring countries.

When you see the Mongolian history of foreign policy, you can tell they were very

calm in terms of decision making process. For example: they had equal respect to

any religion. Only Mongols tried to have a peaceful agreement and negotiations to

other countries and wait for their decision first. This is the most common national

identity of our people even today.

Г.Баасанхүү, Pax Mongolica буюу Их Монгол Улсын Гадаад Бодлогын Энхээр Т

охинуулах Үзэл Санааны Тухай, Их Монгол Улсын Эзэнт Гүрний Түүх, Соёлын

Асуудлууд (2006) 211-215р тал

In a book called “ Mongol man” which was written by Ts.Balkhjav stated t

he uniqueness of a Mongolian mentality and national identity origin.

1. • The attemptation to newness, that came down from the nomadic time

2.• Psychology of procedural behavior based on organizational behavior and organizational characteristics

3.• The rules of obeying and the rules of governing

4.• The level of intellectual capacity concerned with worships

5.• Based on the National Freedom Index, the hatred of foreign aggression and war

6.• Technique of possessing property

7. • It is easy to ease to the prepared things. Not to make them on their own

8.

• As the main feature of Mongolia, the psychological characteristic of these people, these eight psychological characteristics are defined as the general national identity of the Mongolian people.

How does the good

and bad behavior of

Mongolians affect the

ir development?

Mongolian Marketing Consulting Group made a

research on “Appealing Mongolians good and bad

behavior”. The research has been made through

out a conversation on the phone (CATI) by

professionals. This survey has reached total 21

provinces and Ulaanbaatar’s 9 districts.

As the result of the research an accommodative

personality was the best behavior concerned.

For the worst behaviors of Mongolians were

selfishness. Respondents consider themselves

selfish and jealous but some of them feel that this

behavior is ineffective.

While two out of every 10 people has answered

that they have good behaviors more than the bad

so it doesn’t affect our development. But 93% of

the citizens’ responded selfishness and laziness is

a major obstacle to Mongolia's growth.

http://www.mmcg.mn/posts/post/530

1. The new principles of the Mongolian foreign policy: Independent,

non-aligned, multilateral, peace-loving, opportunistic and most

importantly, protecting, maintaining and promoting it’s core natio

nal interest

2. Have a balanced relations with its north and south neighbors

3. National security regarding international disputes or conflicts, the

status of a denuclearized zone

4. “The Third Neighbor Policy”

5. “The Trilateral Neighboring Policy”

6. Active multilateral relations

In order to look at the foreign policy of Mongolia, one would have to consider the context and the environment

of its existence. Namely, the political system differs from its neighbor states, hugely dependent on industrial and

economical factors through trade relations from foreign markets and most importantly, it’s geopolitical and

demographical condition, a sparsely populated, landlocked buffer state in-between humongous two neighbor

nations.

One can formulate the new paradigm of Mongolian foreign policy by the following list, based on

a macro-scale research of the parameters or boundaries in which the foreign policy of Mongolia functions.

A paradigm of a foreign policy defines it’s forms and symptoms.

The Foreign

Policy of

Mongolia

The top priority of the Mongolian

Foreign Policy: One can say that Mongolia has

a very special geopolitical condition based on

the fact as mentioned earlier, it is situated

in-between two major powers with their own

respectful policies and stances on the

international relations. Specifically, bordering

to its south is the largest developing country

and the biggest emerging market, a nuclear

power, and the most populous state. To its

north, Mongolia shares a border with the

rejuvenating empire, also a nuclear power with

the largest landmass in the world.

Therefore, it was crucial for Mongolia to set the

fundamental legislative basis for a cooperative

bilateral relations with it’s two neighbors, starting

from 2003. The first administration of the top

priority principle of the foreign policy of Mongolia

to have balanced relations with it’s two

geographical neighbors was observed from the

“Traditional Good Neighbor Partnership”

agreement with Moscow and “Good Neighbors’

Mutual Trust Partnership” with the PRC. 6 years

later, the “Strategic Partnership” was signed

between Mongolia and it’s northern neighbor

followed by the same agreement, which was signed

between its southern neighbor, as said, balancing

the outer-domestic relations of the country. The late

st update from this double-fronted patterns of

diplomatic attempts is without a doubt, the 2014

“Comprehensive Strategic Partnership” made with

a country of which the president currently goes by

the name of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.

The Third Neighbor Policy

“The Third Neighbor Policy” is a hallmarking product of the active, independent and multilateral

(multifaceted) foreign policy principles Mongolia implements, aimed at neutralizing its relations

with its neighbors based on its historical lessons and the disadvantageous geographical context,

starting from the 90s. As mentioned above, Mongolia has two major players surrounding it, which

naturally makes the two big powers a threat to some extent. To some extent because although

Mongolia is very wary of it’s two neighbors, one can point out the fact that Mongolia trusts or

seem to be trusting it’s bordering giants, clearly from it’s last 30 years of diplomatic policy on

relations with the aforementioned two parties. In numbers, 63% of Mongolian foreign trade is

dealt with Beijing, in other words, dangerously dependent on it’s concerning bold neighbor to the

south. Similarly or even more interestingly, all of Mongolia’s oil imports are from that of the

former major red army occupying state, Russia. It is believed that again, even though Mongolia is

extremely careful on it’s relations with China and Russia, Mongolia does not worry about it’s

dependence on it’s two neighbors in terms of trade.

“The Third Neighbor Policy” proves the unique

characteristic of the Mongolian mindset, which can be

described as: limitless and without any boundaries,

overcoming all obstacles by seeking everything that is

new.

‘The Third Neighbor Policy” has been deeply embedded in

the foreign policy of Mongolia through the significant and

essential decisions reflected on both “The National

Security Framework of Mongolia” as well as “The Foreign

Policy Framework of Mongolia” starting from 1990, which

now has become a new aim for a government policy and

theoretical-practical international relations’ research

studies. The former framework declares that “By following

the Third Neighbor Policy, Mongolia will develop

bilateral as well as a multilateral relations regarding social,

cultural, economical and political co-operations with highl

y developed democratic countries” in 2010. The revised

version of the latter framework emphasizes that “On a

policy level, for the first time, Mongolia has decided to

widen and develop a cooperative partnership relations with

the western-eastern nations and associations, the EU,

Japan as well as the USA within the structure of The

Third Neighbor Policy” in 2011.

The Third Neighbor Policy

The evidence of the claim “The Foreign Policy of Mongolia” is the fact that this

policy is independent, anti-aligning, multi-faceted (multilateral), peace-loving,

liberal (open) and most importantly, respectful to the national core values and

interests.

It is not a news that Mongolia has been interested for the last century in becoming

friends with a third neighbor that is advanced in all sorts of developments.

Unfortunately, this was no child’s play, only it would be possible to implement when

Mongolia had a chance to administer a relatively independent foreign policy. The

result of an independent foreign policy is the creation of a balanced, beneficial and

friendly cooperation among Mongolia and its neighbors. “The Third Neighbor Policy

” has pulled Mongolia out of the pickle in 1990, from the beginning of its

implementation, which was an economic crisis, and now the policy works as

a cornerstone of the Mongolian economic cooperation with third neighbor countries

as mentioned earlier.

Judging from the suspense of the series of events that occurred around the policy, the

main influencing factors of “The Third Neighbor Policy” is as mentioned before,

firstly the “Mongolian Mindset”, and secondly the domestic development of the state,

and thirdly the decisions made by the government or policies made by the

government, and finally the significant changes that were made in the international

relations’ environment of the country.

The soft spot of the national security measure of Mongolia, is the fact th

at it’s only two neighbors are both nuclear powers and Mongolia has

been taking a role of a buffer state, both policy wise as well as literally.

In the aforementioned “National Security Framework of Mongolia”, it

is defined that one of the ways to ensure the state’s secure existence is

to “Legitimize the denuclearization of Mongolia in front of the rest of

the world in order to insure it’s security using a political leverage as

such a key to an international security of the state”.

Not only that, in the following “The Foreign Policy Framewor

k of Mongolia”, it is mentioned that “Mongolia must not take

part in the following actions or activities by any means

necessary: will not be in any possession of any weapon of

mass destruction(s) in terms of geographical ownership

including nuclear weapon and on a separate note, foreign

military forces will not be allowed to settle or temporarily base

on Mongolian soil in any event. The ground and the air space

of Mongolia

must not be used against any nation or state under any

circumstances for any military union or non aligning powers”.

In February of 2000, the “Great

Khural of Mongolia” (the parliament) adopted

a law titled “The legislation on Mongolia’s

nuclear-weapon-free status”, which was a

domestic legal fortification of the UN

Resolution 53/77/B “Mongolian Security,

Nuclear Free Status”

from the 53rd General Assembly Meeting in

1998. It was the end result of the Mongolian

announcement of its “Nuclear Weapon Free

Zone” during the 48th General Assembly

meeting of the UN in 1992.

The denuclearization of

Mongolia:

The importance of the “Nuclear Weapon Free Zone”

being supported and legislated by the international

political as well as the international law community, in

this case, the UN, lies in the fact that Mongolian Foreign

Policy is effectively being implemented through the

system by the major (nuclear) powers as of the 67th GA

meeting of the UN in 2012, when the 1st committee on

politics and security legislated the draft resolution of legit

imizing Mongolia’s “Nuclear Free State” status, which

was initiated by Mongolia for it’s efforts

Starting from 1968, with the “The Treaty on

the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons”

Mongolia actively entered and ratified

international treaties and conventions based

around the concept of denuclearized

international community, including the 1996 “

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty”

as well as the 1997 “The Joint Convention on

the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on

the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management”.

The sheer fact of a single state

legitimizing it’s “nuclear weapon free zone“

status is as of now the only instance and one of

the many examples of how the “Mongolian Min

dset” actually benefits the nation, when put in

place correctly. In this respect, Mongolia did

not just entered a few treaties in the 20th

century and sat back, no. In December of 2001,

Mongolia revised the “Rules and Regulations of

The Nuclear Energy Commission”, followed by

the ratification of the 2005 “The Nuclear

Terrorism Convention” of the UN.

A mechanism that maximizes the profits and benefits of a three-state

economic cooperation has been directed by Mongolia’s effort to

establish a permanent institution, which supports a trilateral dialogue.

In this sense, Mongolia’s initiation of researching it’s two neighbor

states’ policies and stance in the regional as well as global issues or

Mongolia’s attempt to coherently explain it’s policies and positions in

order to gain support is crucial in building the aforementioned structure

.

The Trilateral

Relations’ Policy of Mongolia:

The Three-State-Relations has reached a

new structure and subjects based on

Mongolia’s tireless pursuit of the success

ful initiation of the trilateral dialogue

mechanism. This can be observed from

the 2014 Dushanbe (Tajikistan), 2015

Ufa (Russia) and 2016 Tashkent

(Uzbekistan) summits.

The US, Japan and Mongolia, trilateral

meeting is a Mongolian base medium as

to exchange perspectives on the regional

as well as the multilateral cooperation an

d integration with regards to the

third-neighbors of Mongolia, starting

from 2015.

The 2017 trilateral meeting among the US, Japan and

Mongolia focused on the most concerning topic at the

time, which was the threat of DPRK’s nuclear and

ballistic rocket program and the possibilities of it’s

denuclearization, in other words, mass destructive

weapon free DPRK. This was triggered by the launch of

a ballistic missile over Japanese territory on the 29th of

August, which was a threat to the regional and of course,

the global security of states. All parties noted that this

program and its symptoms are destabilizing the both level

power structure or security balance. In order to solve this

debauchery, all parties have concluded that they should

take responsibility for this matter according to their

promise made on the 2005 Joint Statement on “Six Party

Talks” held in the capital of China as well as other

international responsibilities that the parties feel obliged

to take measures according to all the UN Security

Council Resolutions that overlaps the situation,

especially Pyongyang was reminded of it.

Both the US and Japan mentioned it’s gratification towards Mongolian contribution in efforts of keeping

global peace and stabilizing conflicted regions through the UN peacekeeping program.

3 parties once again proved their agreed position of developing a trilateral as well as a multilateral security

and defense measures in the region. On a more abstract note, 3 parties also agreed on the stance that

international law is the crucial bases of a peaceful and productive relations among states, which shall be

carried out by the mechanisms of international organizations, such as the UN.

• Therefore, the three parties have decided to call upon all the UN member states to take responsibility in

imposing order on DPRK and solve for the ongoing nuclear threats as well as abducted citizens

according to the resolution 2371 of the UN.

While agreeing on partnering with Mongolia on it’s sustainable energy

projects, both US and Japan has acknowledged the fact that the competitive

advantages of a Mongolian agricultural industry is significant. Japan and US

also expressed their hopes of Mongolia abiding it’s agreed program with the

IMF, in order to restore foreign investors’ trust in the Mongolian market.

Noting that a mutually beneficial economic cooperation is the cornerstone of

the trilateral relations, parties have exchanged opinions on the chances of

how the Mongolian government can help facilitate its market for the

American and Japanese businesses and investors, in terms of transparency

and stable legal as well as political environment with the simple goal of

increasing the volume of trade among the three states.

Observing from the above mentioned process, one can claim that the

traditional nomadic culture of three-family-camping lifestyle has become a

major influence on Mongolian interest in developing a trilateral relations on

the international relations level with states, such as the US and Japan.

It is concludible that in

Mongolia’s case of

foreign policy and trilater

al relations, considering

it’s enormous two

neighbors to the south and

to the north, the state’s

security and stability is

hugely dependent on the

regional state of relations,

which therefore pushes

Mongolia to implement an

active and in some cases,

experimental policies to

reach its objectives.

• The long-known neutral policy has a background of being under the influence of an Soviet rule , which now has evolved into a non-aligning agenda

• Plays a role of a buffer state between Russia and China, geopolitically

• Implements an active policy directed towards getting the state recognized on the global scale

• National stability is ontologically dependent on its relations with the two neighboring states

• Desires to participate in the international economic cooperation in order to grow and prosper

Features of the Foreign Policy of

Mongolia:

Alexander Wendt’s approach towards the

constructivist theory has been the theoretical

bases of this research, which correlates a state’s

foreign policy with it’s social values, culture,

tradition, normative and ideologies. He is one of

the core social constructivists, in the field of

international relations.

According to Mr.Wendt, a particular foreign policy of a

state grows out of its unique characteristics, in that is, a

nation or a state defines itself, others and the interests of

both in a different manner than one another for that they

have different society and therefore a different country.

Those characteristics that defines a state’s foreign policy

goes as follows:

2.Language

3.Religion and it’s ideology

4.Custom

5.Normative or social culture

6.Tradition

7.Common duties and rights according to law over a

respectable period of time

1.Historical geographical territory and

historical remembrance

Because of the recently discussed reasons, it is difficult to predict

the outcomes of different foreign policies interacting in the

international relations’ arena, for that every state and a non-state

actor encompasses dissimilar backgrounds and goals, i.e. policies.

Therefore one must understand the underlying factors of which

later combines into the reason why a foreign policy have such

symptoms that are complicated enough to cause scholars have a

mildly distressed ponders throughout the year.

Mongolians have a uniquely special and nomadic culture that is

deeply connected with the nature, the land, the sky and their

ancestors, which shaped the Mongolian mindset to become

characterized as a big-picture considering, free-thinking, far-sighted,

and therefore, an ancient sentiment

Summarization

The “denuclearized state status”, the “Ulaanbaatar Dialogue” and the “Trilateral Relations” indicates the sensible and pragmatic approach, which a Mongolian actively takes to participate in the international realms of relations

The Trilateral “Third Neighbor Policy”, an evidence of a nomadic mindset

The policy of staying independent from its neighboring great powers as well as maintaining a balanced relations based on a historical practicalities

Although it is

obvious that the foreign policy

of Mongolia is very active and

innovative, the fundamental

bases of it is substantially aimed

to balance the neighboring two

Big neighbors’ functions for that

it’s sphere of influence is hugel

y dominated by these two fact

ors, not to neglect the “Third

Neighbor Policy” which

contributes into the regional

stability in terms of international

relations.

The Mongolian people perceive the

world from a wide angle with an

observant perspective, meaning that

the time-frame in which they make

most conclusions or decision is

possibly longer than the most,

making them calmer, yet precise.

This is because of the earlier

stated nomadic culture influence

, namely, connected with the

nature and respectful to it as

well, which makes them very

pragmatic. This is not a mystery,

the mindset comes from the

history, the language, the

tradition, the religion, the faith

and the values that make up the

Mongolian culture an Identity.

Thank you For you attention