Contradictions of Populism and Resource Extraction: Examining the Intersection of Resource Nationalism and Accumulation by Dispossession in Mongolia
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Populism_Resource_Extraction_M ...
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287.3Kb
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Final Accepted Manuscript
Publisher
ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTDCitation
Orhon Myadar & Sara Jackson (2019) Contradictions of Populism and Resource Extraction: Examining the Intersection of Resource Nationalism and Accumulation by Dispossession in Mongolia, Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 109:2, 361-370, DOI: 10.1080/24694452.2018.1500233Rights
© 2018 by American Association of GeographersCollection Information
This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu.Abstract
We examine contradictions of populism and resource extraction in Mongolia in the context of the recent presidential election of Khaltmaa Battulga, who is often portrayed as dangerously populist. We consider Battulga's victory as an echo of Mongolian voters' sense of dispossession and discontent driven by gross wealth disparity and precarious livelihoods. Rather than treating these concerns as mere tools of the populist political agenda, we view them as moments of resistance to the asymmetry between accumulation and dispossession in Mongolia, a central outcome of twenty-five years of the neoliberal regime. We situate our analysis of Mongolia's resource politics through an examination of the world's second largest undeveloped copper-gold mine, Oyu Tolgoi. The mine offers a window into the country's turbulent resource politics that has concentrated wealth among a powerful few while nearly one third of Mongolians remain trapped in vicious poverty. Relying on fieldwork conducted over several years, the article argues that public grievances against the asymmetry of accumulation and dispossession are routinely discounted by discursive tools within the populist paradigm. "Resource nationalism," in particular, is used by those who promote neoliberalism and the open market as a pejorative label to silence public grievances.Note
12 month embargo; published online: 8 November 2018ISSN
2469-44522469-4460
Version
Final accepted manuscriptSponsors
Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, York University; American Center for Mongolian Studies; Henry Luce Foundation; U.S.-Mongolia Field Research Fellowship Program - American Center for Mongolian Studies; Council of American Overseas Research Centers; U.S. State Department Educational and Cultural Affairs Bureau; Metropolitan State University of Denver; Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge; School of Geography and Development, University of ArizonaAdditional Links
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24694452.2018.1500233ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1080/24694452.2018.1500233