Hegemony and Culturedness: Elites after Socialism in Mongolia.
type: CreativeWork
description: This thesis asks: how did a tiny minority, the 'oligarchic' elite of Mongolia, manage to dominate the economic and political life of the nation for over three decades since the transition to liberal democracy in 1990? With Mongolian media reporting that 99.6% of shares listed on the Mongolian Stock Exchange are owned by around 5 per cent of the total shareholders, and that the ownership of Mongolian businesses is limited to just thirty families (Sneath 2018), it might appear that the rule by this tiny minority has become hegemonic. In recent years, however, the superrich have been targeted by a brand of populist politics. This thesis argues that the emergence, maintenance, and recent targeting of the superrich would not have been possible without Mongolia’s complex history of engagement with the idea of independent statehood. Central to the rise, but also to the fall of oligarchic elites is the issue of ‘national interest,’ the valorized notion of an independent state which paradoxically shapes the capitalist dispositions of the elites, while also being a source of their insecurity. In liberal democracies elite power often appear in public culture as something tolerable. In structural Marxist terms, the elite frequently feature as a well-articulated ruling class. The notion of a self-conscious ruling class makes for convincing explanations of relations of stark inequality and the accumulation of resources by a small minority (Althusser 1970: 90; Poulantzas 1969: 74). Such a concept renders the elite a monolithic and well-orchestrated grouping in a capitalist society. Anthropological studies have shown, however, that this can be a misleading approach to elite power, which is frequently fractured and fluid (Armytage 2020; Lotter 2004; 2012; Simandjuntak 2012; Salman and Sologuren 2011; Sánchez 2016; Lentz 2000; Antonyan 2015; Derlugian 2005). A closer look at Mongolia's superrich, with many top careers ending in imprisonment, provides an image of a politically and eco…
abstract: This thesis asks: how did a tiny minority, the 'oligarchic' elite of Mongolia, manage to dominate the economic and political life of the nation for over three decades since the transition to liberal democracy in 1990? With Mongolian media reporting that 99.6% of shares listed on the Mongolian Stock Exchange are owned by around 5 per cent of the total shareholders, and that the ownership of Mongolian businesses is limited to just thirty families (Sneath 2018), it might appear that the rule by this tiny minority has become hegemonic. In recent years, however, the superrich have been targeted by a brand of populist politics. This thesis argues that the emergence, maintenance, and recent targeting of the superrich would not have been possible without Mongolia’s complex history of engagement with the idea of independent statehood. Central to the rise, but also to the fall of oligarchic elites is the issue of ‘national interest,’ the valorized notion of an independent state which paradoxically shapes the capitalist dispositions of the elites, while also being a source of their insecurity. In liberal democracies elite power often appear in public culture as something tolerable. In structural Marxist terms, the elite frequently feature as a well-articulated ruling class. The notion of a self-conscious ruling class makes for convincing explanations of relations of stark inequality and the accumulation of resources by a small minority (Althusser 1970: 90; Poulantzas 1969: 74). Such a concept renders the elite a monolithic and well-orchestrated grouping in a capitalist society. Anthropological studies have shown, however, that this can be a misleading approach to elite power, which is frequently fractured and fluid (Armytage 2020; Lotter 2004; 2012; Simandjuntak 2012; Salman and Sologuren 2011; Sánchez 2016; Lentz 2000; Antonyan 2015; Derlugian 2005). A closer look at Mongolia's superrich, with many top careers ending in imprisonment, provides an image of a politically and eco…
author: Shagdar, Tuya
language: eng
keywords: elites, hegemony, oligarchy, populism, postsocialism
license: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/5706ed8d-bdb1-4b4c-b0a4-69093e07360b/download
license: https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/
date published: 2023-11-10
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:33:13Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.108882