MONGOLIZATION. Why do Mongols keep failing...

MONGOLIZATION

It's interesting that to get the good things in your life you just need to go out and find the ways to get them. Overthinking here is a waste of time and often mind-killing. I think the same principle works for the legislation of foreign best governance practices, you overthink – you lose, meaning you would not get the expected outcomes, and all efforts go down to the tube. Okay. In my 22 years of professional career in legal practice, I’ve seen many dumb things and stupidity in Mongolian legislation, and I am about to tell the dumbest of them all. We call it MONGOLIZATION.

MONGOLIZATION (Монголчлох) is actually a good word, which means a process of making something suitable for the Mongols or Mongolian mind. But in the legalization and nationalization of some foreign good practices, as always, Mongolization is a mind-killer. Mongolization usually goes through 4 steps:  

1)    Assessing how some foreign best practices will be applied on Mongolian soil (нутагшуулах/газар хөрсөн дээр буулгах), i.e. how they will fit the current Mongolian system of governance.

2)    Assessing whether a good practice suits the Mongolian mind, that is, whether the Mongols will actually like it.

3) Dissemble any good practice, throw out everything that doesn't fit the current Mongolian system of governance, and change it so that it pleases the mind of the Mongols.

4)    Tell everyone that it does not fit and exaggerate the Mongolian differences from the rest of the world.

I would say the legalization of foreign good practices goes exactly through the above 4 steps of Mongolization – making it from a brand new spaceship to a well-known horse carriage. In the end, we sincerely wonder why this carriage does not fly like a spaceship, hence a misconclusion - that foreign standards do not correspond or fit the Mongolian mind and culture, since the Mongolian system of governance is made of a different dough than all other systems of the Earth.

Blaming your mistakes on others is a well-known concept of a fool known to humankind, meaning when you cannot nationalize any good practices right then someone or more often something else is to blame. Like a Mongolian governance culture difference, the Mongolian mind works differently than the rest of the world and yet we do not want to change the root of such an issue, which is the governance itself.

First of all, it is naive to assume that the Mongolian system of governance is the best in the world. Unfortunately, many Mongolian government officials do so. The Mongols must admit that our system of governance is perhaps one of the worst systems in the world. Secondly, we have to admit that there are many proofs - we are in last place for clean energy and a clean environment in the world as of 2022, the most polluted capital in the world is Ulaanbaatar city, and we are one of the most corrupt countries in the world - 118 out of 180 countries in the world, in terms of total GDP - 136th out of 180, the 19th poorest country in Asia and according to Transparency International almost 70% of the population believe that this is due to government corruption, and even 22% (the unofficial figure is much higher) of users of public services paid bribes to receive at least some services in the last 12 months.  

The Worldwide Governance Indicators of the WorldBank reports aggregate and individual governance indicators for over 200 countries and territories over the period 1996–2021, for six dimensions of governance:

1)    Voice and Accountability

2)    Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism

3)    Government Effectiveness

4)    Regulatory Quality

5)    Rule of Law

6)    Control of Corruption

The World is ranking what Mongolia has accomplished between 1996-2021 as follows:

o  77th ranking above zero (0.32) and stable declining at Voice and Accountability

o  67th ranking and stable declining in Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism (the number is relatively high only due to the Zero-Terrorism-Land factor, meaning no single terrorist act was recorded to date),

o  123rd ranking negative (-0.47) and stable declining in Government Effectiveness,

o  102nd ranking negative (-0.21) and stable decline in Regulatory Quality

o  101st ranking negative (-0.21) and stable declining in Rule of Law

o  124th ranking negative (-0.53) and stable declining in Control of Corruption.

World financial ranking organizations such as Moody’s, Standard & Poor, and Fitch rank Mongolian Credit potentials at “B Stable” for 7 consecutive years, meaning as considered speculative and are subject to high credit risk.

Asian Development Bank ranked Mongolia as

“Institutional capacity and governance need to be improved. Key aspects of governance, such as the rule of law, transparency, accountability, and the presence of a high-quality and impartial civil service, all need strengthening. Political instability has historically been a major issue, creating challenges for long-term planning and policy continuity, and uncertainty for investors and the business climate. Independent institutions such as the Fiscal Council, and regulatory or specialized agencies are often unable to fully fulfill their roles because of a lack of resources, and often because of political interference. Fighting corruption has been a major target for consecutive governments, but the perception of corruption remains high and weaknesses in the judiciary have slowed progress.”

With the above-proof poor governance ranking can now anybody convince me that our governance system is good to go? I think the answer is discouraging.  

WHAT DO WE HAVE TO DO NOW?

First, we need to admit that no one would help us in cleaning our shit. Secondly, we have to stop Mongolizing foreign good practices. Meaning that we must make radical changes in our governance system by amending numerous law acts, and enriching laws with foreign best practices. Then, we must stop overthinking when we are adjusting such practices to Mongolian soil – let the spaceship fly, stop demolishing it into a horse carriage! Enough of stupidity and stubbornness! If you do not know how to, first admit and declare it, and then seek help from those who know. And last but not least, good and best practices require sustainability and persistence, meaning the improvement work is not designed for a day, or a month but for years of patience and hard work. Sustainability is the key to success, and yet we also fail here.

What could be the overthinking in Mongolian legislation? Quite simple in my eye – in the process of studying good and best foreign governance practices Mongols furiously attempt to adjust them to our existing legal system, whereas successful countries do exactly the contrary – they adjust and amend their legal system to the best practices! And today, most of such practices went viral so they became international standards! Standard – the most beloved word in any Mongolian politician’s mouth but so unknown to them.   

Also, it is ridiculous and sad to say that many dismantlers are blaming the peculiarities of Mongolian culture as if good governance practices would not work on Mongolian soil or minds. However, many Mongolians have become so familiar with the Bad Practices that these "familiar people" are trying to convince us that there is no other way but to enjoy the freedom of capitalism through corruption, bribery, abuse of power, and many other types of illicit and unethical conduct. In such situations often Mongols say "MIGHT make RIGHT" (чадаж байгаа зүйлд арга байхгүй) as if that is the only reality that we must put up with.

In my next series of studies, step by step I am going to explore best practices, go through all six dimensions of good governance, and put them on the plate for our government officials, politicians, and other relevant people so they would know what they should and should NOT do in the legal MONGOLIZATION process. As mentioned earlier, the admittance of not knowing something is the last stop of many Mongolian politicians, forgive me for my arrogance, since I see no choice but bluntly say it. Let’s clean up this mess.  

… TO BE CONTINUED …