Mapping the World

8. Mongolia: between Russia and China, a unique path

"Mapping the World" introduces you to Mongolia, a mysterious country wedged between two giants, China and Russia. When we talk about Mongolia, we immediately think of its immense steppes, its nomadic horsemen, its yurts and its yaks; but Mongolia is also a country with rich subsoils, a rapidly expanding capital (Ulan Bator) and a living democracy. How did Mongolia, a country of barely three million inhabitants totally landlocked between two of the most implacable dictatorships on the planet, manage to establish a genuine democratic regime? Between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, Ulaanbaatar has managed to chart its course and has even developed relations with other democracies in the world: the "third neighbor strategy".