iiiVol. 23, December 2022

EDITORIAL

The Mongolian Journal of International Affairs Vol.22, 2021         DOI: https://doi.org/10.5564/mjia.v23i1.2458

Dear Readers,
We are delighted to present you 

the 23rd volume of the annual journal 
International Studes, pubished by Institute 
of International Studies, Mongolian 
Academy of Scinces. Our Editorial Office 
has received total of 8 articles from 
researchers and scholars around the world 
in 2022. Based on the result of three step 
assessment: editorial primary assessment, 
independent experts review and decision 
of editorial board meeting, 5 articles have 
been selected to be published on this issue. 
On behalf of the Editorial Board, I would 
like to express our appreciation for the 
experts who devoted their valuable time 
writing a review to improve the quality of 
the materials published in the journal. 

First article in this volume is “Pastoral 
Khans: from Mongolian Steppe to African 
Savannah”, by Prof. Dr. Troy Sternberg, 
Oxford University, Dr. Joana Roque de 
Pinho, a senior researcher at Instituto 
Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal, and  
Dr. Batbuyan Batjav, director of Center for 
Nomadic Pastoralist Studies. The article 
reflects an emphasis on geo-politics, 
particularly evolving relations with its 
superpower neighbours. Global drylands 
exchange network process provided 
an exceptional opportunity to present 
Mongolian perspectives to pastoralists 
and academics from Africa, the Middle 
East and Central Asia. This grounded 
Mongolian livelihoods and  situated rural 
dynamics in a global context.

Next, we have an article entitled 
“Mongolian-Russian Border Cooperation: 
The Role of the Republic of Buryatia”, 
by Prof. Dr. Zolboo Dashnyam, director 
of Institute of International Studies, 
Mongolian Academy of Sciences, which 
emphasizes the expanding cooperation in 
border areas of Mongolia and Republic of 
Buryatia, Russian Federation. The border 
areas of the two countries play a key 
role in expanding effective relations and 
cooperation between the two countries. As 
a border region, Buryatia has a centuries-
old history of economic, political, cultural 
and humanitarian relations with Mongolia. 
Mongolian-Russian border relations 
have been successfully developing in all 
areas, high-level reciprocal visits have 
become regular, and mutual trust has been 
expanding.

“Multilateral Economic Ties of 
Mongolia with its Asian Trading Partners 
in period of 2011-2021”, by Ph.D. 
Robert Dygas, Department of East Asian 
Economic Studies, World Economy 
Research Institute, SGH Warsaw School 
of Economics, Poland, examines main 
aspects of Mongolian’s economy related to 
its Asian Trading Partners namely China, 
India, South Korea and Japan in period of 
2011-2021.

We hope our readers find interesting 
insights in “An Inefficacious Shock 
Therapy: A Critical Analysis of Mongolian 
Neoliberal Reforms”, by Zugeerbai Zul, 



The Mongolian Journal of International Affairs

iv Vol. 23, December 2022

Ph. D Candidate at National Taiwan 
University, and Hyunwook Cheng, Senior 
Researcher at Korea Maritime Institute, 
which attempts to elaborate on the effects 
of neoliberal reforms in Mongolia and to 
critically review the free market monetary 
policy. 

Dr. Erdenechimeg Bor, Center 
for Security and Defense Studies, and 
Narantsatsral Enkhbat, Doctoral Student 
at School of International Relations and 
Public Administration, National University 
of Mongolia, introduce you their article 
“China’s Breakout from Encirclement: 
Belt and Road Initiative”. China’s greatest 
security concern has always been a 
strategic encirclement – its neighbors 
aligning with one another or with strong 
powers such as the United States to isolate 
China. Emerging as a feature of China’s so-
called peaceful development, the Belt and 

Road Initiative (BRI) is a manifestation 
of its aspiration for connecting itself to 
the countries of the great Afro-Eurasian 
landmass by railroads, highways, shipping 
routes and communication network. 

From 2023, the articles will be 
published on the online journal as well, after 
they are received and selected. Although 
this 23rd volume is in paper based form, 
it is a pleasure to inform you readers that 
we are working to promptly deliver the 
journal to the public on an "online first" 
basis starting next year. This will give 
researchers an opportunity to make their 
articles accessible to the public in a short 
period of time. We are deeply grateful to 
the scholars for their collaboration.

Your Sincerely, 
D.Zolboo 

Editor-in-Chief