Global Nomads of Mongolia publishes survey-based research and policy analysis on Mongolia's place in a changing region. Our work focuses on two programs.

Soft Power Monitor

How do Mongolians see the world's great and middle powers, and why? The Soft Power Monitor tracks Mongolian public attitudes toward foreign countries, their culture, education, products and diplomacy. It builds on nationwide and youth opinion surveys since 2021. By repeating the survey over time, we aim to show how foreign influence in Mongolia shifts, and what drives it.

Publications

• "South Korean Soft Power in Mongolia: What Does the Survey Say?" Tsetsenkhuu, A., & Jargalsaikhan, M. Mongolian Journal of International Affairs, 27(1), October 2026. DOI · PDF

  Why does South Korean culture attract Mongolians more than that of China or Russia? Drawing on the 2026 national survey and youth surveys from 2021 and 2024, this article finds Korean food, film, music, language and universities among the most attractive in Mongolia. It argues this goodwill can support the new strategic partnership, though it does not mean strong political influence.

• "Changing Soft Power Dynamics in Mongolia." Suvdantsetseg, Ts., & Mendee, J. In Mongolian Geopolitics, 331–45. Ulaanbaatar: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Mongolia, 2022.

Resource Politics

Mongolia sits at the upstream end of global critical minerals supply chains, between two powerful neighbours and amid intensifying US–China competition. Resource Politics examines how geopolitics shapes Mongolia's mining sector, economic corridors and partnerships, and what this means for the resilience of small states.

Commentary & Analysis

• "Unequal Match: Mongolia versus Rio Tinto", Mongolia Focus (UBC), 2018. Read

  Uses Mongolian wrestling to describe the Oyu Tolgoi bargaining as a mismatch between a long-term, united multinational and a divided small state that keeps replacing its negotiators. The small state's best strategy is to speak with one voice, invest in its own expertise, and insist on transparency.

• "Mongolia's rocky travails of mineral wealth", East Asia Forum, November 2015. Read

  How the 2000s commodities boom became a risk for Mongolia's young democracy: it weakened Western pressure for good governance, fuelled rent-seeking and politicised the bureaucracy, and fed public anger over debt, environmental damage and corruption. Upholding the rule of law is the only way to restore trust.

• "Controversial Railway Projects in Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia", Eurasia Daily Monitor (Jamestown Foundation), June 2015. Read

  While Kazakhstan built itself into a transit hub, Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan stalled over routes, gauge standards and ownership, held back by local politics and fears of dependence on China. Rising debt and the risk of being left out of transcontinental networks pushed both toward Chinese offers.

• "Potential Northeast Asian Economic Corridors: Differing Chinese and Russian Priorities", Eurasia Daily Monitor (Jamestown Foundation), May 2015. Read

  Beijing and Moscow both endorse regional corridors, but China favours a route through Mongolia while Russia prioritises links through North Korea to reach Pacific ports and East Asian buyers. Russian projects in Mongolia's mining and energy sectors often fell victim to local politics.

• "Why are American investors struggling in Mongolia?", PacNet #61, Pacific Forum CSIS, July 2014. Read

  Neither foreign policy nor a lack of information keeps US investors out of Mongolian mining and infrastructure. The obstacle is domestic politics: politicised public service, factional rent-seeking and opaque decision-making that undermine long-term agreements.

• "Why Mongolia's China Mining Strategy is NOT a Mistake!", Mongolia Focus (UBC), September 2012. Read

  A reply to a Wall Street Journal blog post arguing that Mongolia was wrong to resist Chinese mining investment. Given its unavoidable economic dependence on China, Mongolia is right to avoid relying on any single investor, and to prioritise responsible mining and economic diversification.