Modern Mongolia: From Khans to Commissars to Capitalists | 
| Author: Morris Rossabi
Publisher: University of California Press
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 323970
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 418
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 1.1
ISBN: 0520244192
Dewey Decimal Number: 951.73
EAN: 9780520244191
ASIN: 0520244192
Publication Date: April 25, 2005
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Condition: Pages clean and crisp, binding tight, cover shows light shelving wear.Ex-library book with stamps and stickers, binding has been taped to secure. Book ends/edges show some light wear We ship fast!!
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Product Description
Land-locked between its giant neighbors, Russia and China, Mongolia was the first Asian country to adopt communism and the first to abandon it. When the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s, Mongolia turned to international financial agencies--including the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank--for help in compensating for the economic changes caused by disruptions in the communist world. Modern Mongolia is the best-informed and most thorough account to date of the political economy of Mongolia during the past decade. In it, Morris Rossabi explores the effects of the withdrawal of Soviet assistance, the role of international financial agencies in supporting a pure market economy, and the ways that new policies have led to greater political freedom but also to unemployment, poverty, increasingly inequitable distribution of income, and deterioration in the education, health, and well-being of Mongolian society.
Rossabi demonstrates that the agencies providing grants and loans insisted on Mongolia's adherence to a set of policies that did not generally take into account the country's unique heritage and society. Though the sale of state assets, minimalist government, liberalization of trade and prices, a balanced budget, and austerity were supposed to yield marked economic growth, Mongolia--the world's fifth-largest per capita recipient of foreign aid--did not recover as expected. As he details this painful transition from a collective to a capitalist economy, Rossabi also analyzes the cultural effects of the sudden opening of Mongolia to democracy. He looks at the broader implications of Mongolia's international situation and considers its future, particularly in relation to China.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 Un-Skeptical April 27, 2007
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
I find the comments below by Mr. Bikales disingenuous in light of his position as an economist for the Asian Development Bank, one of the donor organizations responsible for the debacle in Mongolia. Not only does he fail to acknowledge his vested interest in Mongolian development, he makes several specious allegations in an attempt to undermine the character and credibility of the author of "Modern Mongolia." Mr. Rossabi does not have a private plane or live in lavish comfort in New York. His interests in the situation in Mongolia stems from his deep knowledge of Mongolian-Chinese relations and Mongolian history and culture having studied and lectured on these subjects for nearly 40 years. Mr. Rossabi is deeply committed to social and economic justice in Mongolia (and the world in general), and the way he lives his life is a reflection of that.
Mr. Bikales is right about one thing though, Mongolian political leaders do live in the real world - unfortunately that world is often controlled by more powerful invested donors and agencies.
"Modern Mongolia" is the most comprehensive and thoughtful assessment of the situation to date. You may want to read "Bounty from the Sheep" a wonderful autobiography of a nomadic herder translated by Mr. Rossabi's wife, Mary Rossabi, for a more personal look at the plight of the newly "liberated" and thereby impoverished people of Mongolia.
Darren Byler, Grad. Student, East Asian Studies, Columbia University
Major contribution to the development debate July 13, 2005
8 out of 13 found this review helpful
Morris Rossabi's Modern Mongolia is an excellent book, an essential read for the development assistance community and a fascinating source for any serious student of comparative politics, international relations, and the history of nation-building in Asia. Rossabi writes from a unique vantage point. As a major historian of China and Mongolia with extensive firsthand experience in the region, he is able to draw upon an extraordinary range of materials to present his analysis of Mongolia in the post-Soviet era. At the same time, this role allows him enough distance from his central subject--the impact of the shock therapy, pure market approach to development--that he can provide an assessment based not on policy intentions but on actual results. And, as he so convincingly demonstrates, rapid, across-the-board privatization with minimal state involvement has resulted in serious degradation of social services, growing income disparities, and deepening poverty, particularly within Mongolia's traditional herding community. This is hardly the outcome desired by any of the people involved in shaping Mongolia's development programs. Rossabi's biggest contribution is to encourage government planners and outside aid donors alike to come up with more Mongolia-specific, innovative solutions in the face of obvious setbacks, solutions that take as a starting point ensuring a minimum safety net for the poor and building the institutional capacity within government to monitor and implement enterprise development efforts. As a China-Japan historian who spent a decade working on World Bank China projects (including the preliminary study for the southwest China poverty reduction project), I find Rossabi's arguments for a history and institutional knowledge based approach to development planning most refreshing. If Modern Mongolia serves to excite discussion and debate, so much the better for Mongolia's future.
Paula Harrell
Finally, someone said it! Long overdue! June 29, 2005
12 out of 18 found this review helpful
Modern Mongolia is an excellent book: balanced, easy to read and very insightful. I believe Dr. Rossaby deserves applause for being able to formulate in such a structured way all that new rulers (both Democrats and MPRP) and their advisors (USAID and IMF) inflicted on Mongolia and its people.
For years, rumors and accusations of misappropriation, corruption and erroneous policy decisions floated within the Mongolian society. And the evidence of those stared bluntly into one's face in form of new houses and prosperous companies being owned by government officials, and dire poverty into which almost 1/3 of the population descended. This book brilliantly showed that both Democrats and the MPRP essentially pursued same policies, and one was as corrupt as the other.
More importantly, this book criticized the "help" of the donor community. For too long Mongolia remained the darling of the US and IMF for implementing their advice without question. And for too long the donors lip-served the government on their "achievements". At the same time, the government was constantly undermined by the donors' insistence on certain policies, the benefits of which to the country sometimes were, at best, doubtful.
This book sets the precedent for structured criticism of donor activities in Mongolia. It adds a strong voice to growing demands for reassessment of current policies and priorities.
As a Mongol myself, I am sick and tired of foreigners painting a rosy picture of Mongolia's "democratization", it is time for a book like this!
 Out of his league June 25, 2005
16 out of 28 found this review helpful
I witnessed many of the events that Rossabi describes and knew many of the intelligent and brave Mongolian policy makers who had to make very tough decisions under extremely difficult circumstances in the 1990's. Rossabi brings nothing to this study except a lot of preconceptions about economics and the role of advisors and international financial institutions. He visited Mongolia only occasionally during those years, has never lived there, does not speak the language, and is in way over his head in this book.
In 2000 the former Communist Party, the MPRP, came back into power in Mongolia with a strong Parliamentary majority. They did not even attempt to undo the economic reforms that had been launched under the Democratic Coalition during the previous four years. In fact, a number of those reforms have been extended further. The reason is not because they were forced to by the IMF et al -- Rossabi does not even realize how he insults the leaders of the country by suggesting that they are puppets or dupes of foreign institutions. The reason is that they, unlike Rossabi, live in the real world and have to make decisions knowing what their real options are, and what the consequences are likely to be.
Rossabi lives in great comfort in New York and every now and then gets on his plane to Ulaanbaatar, where he feels qualified to pass judgment on people who are doing the real work of building a strong modern country. Pass on this one, folks.
Bill Bikales
Excellent account of recent events in Mongolia June 22, 2005
5 out of 9 found this review helpful
Dr. Rossabi's account of Mongolia's recent history is a compelling read and excellent starting point for anyone interested in this remote country. This book's well-researched and factually accurate narrative of events and people will prove to be invaluable experience for both researchers and casual readers of contemporary history in the region. Dr. Rossabi's criticism of international donor organizations is well-argumented and long-deserved. It is a welcome change from endless rhetoric and self-righteousness of "experts" and "consultants". Highly recommended!!!
P.S. to "Sceptical": 4 out of 5 Mongols would like to see better reforms and more equitable changes in society, and any support for further changes does not indicates endorsement of policies thus far implemented by both Government and international donor community.
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