The development trajectories of China and Mongolia (eBook)

Essay from the year 2013 in the subject Politics - History of Political Systems, grade: 1,3, Hertie School of Governance, course: Comparative Political Economy of Emerging Markets, language: English, abstract: China has become a frequently cited exemplary case for the successful economic transitioning from a socialism regime and the enormous act of lifting hundreds of millions of Chine out of poverty over a period of merely three decades. At the same time, Chinas little northern brother, Mongolia, is rarely the focus of comparative development analyses. The least densely populated country in the world has however been on a continuous path of increasing its international economic weight for the past two decades, and with a GDP growth rate of 18% in 2011 belongs to the world’s fastest growing nations.

With the exception of Citibank’s economist Willem Buiter, who grouped Mongolia as one of eleven “G3” countries to become the leading emerging nations of the future, international development studies do not tend to attribute much international significance of the land-locked steppe-country and its 2.8 million inhabitants.

At the same time, however, its Southern neighbor China has been watching closely, keeping an eye out on the enormous amounts of mineral resources which are dozing underneath the ‘world’s bluest skies’. Since Mongolia’s’ strong ties with the Soviet Union broke after a 70-year period of close economic collaboration, the treasures lying underneath the Mongolian steppe have once again come within reach of Chinas resource-hungry industries.