Mongolia at the Crossroads of Asia: Foreign Policy Challenges in the Democratic Era

Speaker: Alicia Campi, President of the Asian Political and History Association; Adjunct Professor at the Reischauer Center, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University
Moderated by: Elizabeth Wishnick, Professor of Political Science at Montclair State University; Senior Research Scholar, Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University

This event will discuss Alicia Campi’s new book, Mongolia’s Foreign Policy: Navigating a New World (Lynne Rienner, April 2019). Strategically located at the crossroads of Asia, Mongolia has long attracted the attention of major world powers. How has this traditionally nomadic, but resource rich, country used a “Wolf Strategy” to establish its own place in the modern world? What challenges does it now face? Answering these questions, Alicia Campi provides a multifaceted examination of the context, formulation, and execution of contemporary Mongolian foreign policy. She elaborates on how Mongolia has navigated the attention of major world powers, including China, Russia, India, Japan, the Koreas, EU countries, and the United States, and forged a path of its own in the modern world.

Dr. Alicia Campi is a China/Mongolian specialist and was a U.S. State Department Foreign Service Officer for 14 years who served in Asian posts (Singapore, Taiwan, Japan and Mongolia) and the U.S Mission to the United Nations in New York. Since 2013, she has been a Research Fellow at the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies and Adjunct Professor within the Asia Programs at Johns Hopkins SAIS, where she teaches a course on the ‘Construction of Northeast Asia.’ In 2016, she became the coordinator of the U.S. State Department’s Northeast Asia regional studies course at the Foreign Service Institute. She received her AB in East Asian History from Smith College in 1971, obtained an MA in East Asian Studies with a concentration in Mongolian Studies from Harvard University in 1973, and spent 2 years in Taiwan at Fu Jen University. Dr. Campi received a PhD in Central Eurasian and Mongolian Studies with a minor in Chinese Studies in 1987 from Indiana University. In July 2004 she was awarded the “Friendship” Medal by Mongolian President N. Bagabandi and in 2011 received the “Polar Star” (Mongolia’s highest medal) from President Ts. Elbegdorj. In September 2007 she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the National University of Mongolia. Dr. Campi has published over 100 articles and book chapters on contemporary Chinese, Mongolian, and Eurasian issues, and has been a guest on Chinese programs for Radio Free Asia. She advises Chinese and western financial institutions on Eurasian investment issues, particularly in the mining sector. Her book on The Impact of China and Russia on U.S.-Mongolian Political Relations in the 20th Century was published in 2009, and her new book on Mongolian Foreign policy in the Democratic Era will be published in 2018.