Informal Life Politics in Inner Mongolia and Mongolia: Case Studies of Herders' Environmental Self-Help Movements

Abstract

The research topic of this dissertation is herders' informal life politics on the Mongolian Plateau in the post-socialist period, with a particular focus on herders' environmental self-help movements. After the disbanding of the socialist cooperatives, the living conditions of Mongolian herders underwent tremendous changes. Faced with a series of social-environmental crises, herders have carried out a variety of self-help movements. This dissertation studies the context of herders' self-help movements, what they have achieved, and the challenges they face. The fieldwork for this thesis was carried out in several villages of Shilingol League in central Inner Mongolia (within the People's Republic of China) and a settled herders' community in Mongolia (the independent nation). Through field research between 2014 to 2018, I selected three types of environmental self-help movements, namely the environmental struggle movement (Inner Mongolia), independent environmental studies by herders and their supporters (Inner Mongolia), and a sustainable community building movement (Mongolia).

After the disbanding of the socialist cooperatives, Inner Mongolia and Mongolia adopted completely different land-use policies. Inner Mongolia has adopted the household land contracting system under gacha (village) land ownership, while Mongolia has adopted a 'freedom of movement' land-sharing system under the national ownership of land. These contrasting land-use systems have led to different environmental problems that have shaped herders' self-help efforts. The herders' self-help movements in Inner Mongolia are shaped by private land and water ownership. On the other hand, the herders' self-help movement for sustainable land-use in Mongolia has moved in the direction of collective land-management.

The first part of this dissertation addresses the environmental resistance movement in Inner Mongolia in the context of social and environmental crises. Part two describes and analyzes the collaborative work of herders and outsiders to conduct independent research into local water management and to create new local knowledge related to water resources and environment. Part three of the dissertation moves to Mongolia where it describes and analyzes sustainable community-building movements by a group of herders there.

From the perspective of the herders, the fundamental driving force behind self-help movements is their pursuit of a 'good' living environment. Herders' self-help movements are rarely directed at changing existing government policies or directly challenging the regime but rather at solving specific local problems. Second, the relationship between herders' self-help movements and formal politics has very different characteristics in Inner Mongolia and Mongolia. The herders' environmental self-help movements in Inner Mongolia are often regarded as a 'hidden danger' by local government officials. In contrast, the Mongolian government actively supports the legal registration and development of herder's self-organization.

Outsiders also play an important role in the herders' self-help movement. From the perspective of herders, outsiders are an important social resource for them to seek help. The cooperation between herders and outsiders is based on mutual consent and can greatly expand the capacity of herders' self-help movements. However, such cooperation is also subject to great uncertainty due to the lack of financial and organizational guarantees. Show more