| Publication |
2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Although the role of intelligence services has been addressed in many recent discussions of the democratization process, yet it has not yet generally been pursued sufficiently by academics and politicians. 1 Mongolia and its intelligence services have been among those countries undergoing a democratic transition and consolidation process. Mongolia is the only formerly Communist Asian state whose democratization process has not regressed. In fact, since 1990, electoral democracy has become the "only game in town," where space for a vibrant civil society exists, and the security institutions have remained outside of the political and economic contests. 2 Approval in early 2012 of the law on conflicts of interest, a set of laws concerning the judiciary, revisions of the election law, and a sustained public demand for good governance are signs of a healthy nascent democracy, one which admittedly still has room for improvement. 3 Unique in the region, Mongolia's security organizations-the military, intelligence agencies, and police-have remained mostly outside of this political transformation. The role of these security institutions in the quest for democratization has often been ignored because of a misperception about their roles and centrality, and the reality of the Soviet military presence in Mongolia during the Cold War.
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