Mongolia has had a long history of being colonized or at least being a satellite region for other countries, despite this or perhaps because of it, Mongolia also has a history of nationalism. The largest and most persistent form of which is pan-mongolism(Fijn 2017).
Pan-Mongolism has existed for over 100 years and has gone through several phases, causing two revolutions in the process. Historically the Mongolian revolution of 1911 against the Qing empire, and the 1921 revolution against the Chinese Republic are the most notable examples of historical Nationalism(Wikipedia). In the Modern day, Pan-Mongolism represents the attempt of all territories with Mongolians living in them to unite under the idea of Greater Mongolia. Greater Mongolia would be made up primarily of Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Buryatia. Inner Mongolia has been controlled by China, and Buryatia by Russia for roughly 100 years. Currently, neither of these territories contain Mongolian majorities and are controlled by autocratic regimes, making restoration of greater Mongolia increasingly unlikely.
Interestingly, Mongolia also has had a recent Neo-Nazi movement(Branigan 2010). This movement is rather ironic due to the Nazi policy of explicitly executing Russian POWs who were believed to be Mongolian. These Neo-nazis claim to only support the nationalist, and culture-preserving aspects of Hitler’s ideology and condemn the killings of the holocaust. This ideology is primarily anti-Chinese in origin and focuses on preventing interracial marriage in Mongolia.
The difference between Nationalism and Patriotism is mainly that patriotism is more or less an appreciation of one’s country, while nationalism is a political ideology that believes in support of one’s country but at the expense of other countries. Pan-Mongolism is a reasonable example of nationalism as it doesn’t consider the practical difficulties of integrating all of the non-Mongolians that are the majority residents in greater Mongolia. It is to the detriment of those people and to the detriment of China and Russia who no doubt wouldn’t want to lose territory. That’s not to say that the idea of greater Mongolia isn’t justified, it very much is, but similar to the Native Americans in the United States, there is simply no practical way to return this land to the Mongolians.
Mongolia seems to have a pretty average level of financial inequality with a GINI index of 48.1(WorldEconomics2019). This GINI index places Mongolia above Japan but below France in terms of inequality. Mongolia unlike these countries is incredibly poor with around 27% of its population living below the poverty line, and a GDP per capita of 4000 USD(WorldBank 2020). Mongolia’s economy has been growing relatively quickly however this growth has not had a great impact on the regular populace of Mongolia(Wpadmin 2014).
Overall Mongolia has had a history and still maintains a nationalist presence in the modern day, however outside of the small Neo-Nazi movement much of this nationalism is fairly well-intentioned and usually nonviolent. In terms of inequality, Mongolia seems to be dealing with a similar level of inequality as other developing nations, however, the Mongolian economy continues to grow hopefully leading to a reduction in poverty.
Sources
Fijn, Author Natasha. “The Spectre of Pan-Mongolism.” MongolInk, 21 Feb. 2017, https://mongoliainstitute.anu.edu.au/mongolink/2017/02/21/the-spectre-of-pan-mongolism/.
“GDP per Capita, PPP (Current International $) – Mongolia.” Data, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.CD?locations=MN.
“Mongolian Nationalism.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Jan. 2018, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolian_nationalism.
“Mongolian Neo-Nazis: Anti-Chinese Sentiment Fuels Rise of Ultra-Nationalism.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 2 Aug. 2010, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/aug/02/mongolia-far-right.
“Mongolia’s Inequality Index.” World Economics, https://www.worldeconomics.com/Inequality/Mongolia.aspx.
“Pan-Mongolism.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Sept. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-Mongolism#1990–present.
Wpadmin. “Poverty, Inequality, and the Negative Effects of Mongolia’s Economic Downturn.” The Asia Foundation, 3 Apr. 2016, https://asiafoundation.org/2014/06/25/poverty-inequality-and-the-negative-effects-of-mongolias-economic-downturn/.
