Morris Rossabi (Columbia University & Visiting Fellow, Wolfson College, University of Cambridge)
Post-Communist Transition in Mongolia
Almost thirty-five years have elapsed since what some advocates have labeled the "Transition" in Mongolia. They imply that the problems the country has faced will wither away once the "Transition" has progressed into social stability. This presentation describes the changes, based on a neo-liberal ideology and "shock therapy," from a planned economy to a market economy and their impact on Mongolian society up to the present. It also considers foreigners' roles in Mongolia's successes and failures since 1990, as well as whether the country could have moved, via glasnost and perestroika, toward democracy and greater economic flexibility without foreign involvement.