Education, youth and civic attitudes in post-socialist Mongolia

Mongolia’s post-socialist Constitution of 1992 called for the building of a ‘humane, civil, and democratic society’, but while the transition from Communism has seen the values that underpinned the old system radically challenged, establishing consensus around a new vision of citizenship has proved difficult. The socialisation of the young is always crucial to establishing (or reproducing) such a consensus, but especially in a society where half the population is under the age of 23.2 This chapter begins by reviewing the role assigned to schooling in propagating an officially sanctioned vision of citizenship. It then proceeds to examine data from surveys and interviews conducted among high school students, discussing their sense of identity, political values and social concerns. It thus aims to analyse both how the contemporary state has sought to reshape popular understandings of what it means to be Mongolian, and how young people themselves – whether influenced by their schooling or by other factors – conceptualise their identity and their roles as citizens.