Transcending Human Rights Instrumentalism

Whether human rights treaties produce an impact on the ground is a highly contested question in international law. I engage in this debate in the present thesis offering a qualitative study of the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Australia and Mongolia. The scholarship commonly understands human rights treaties in legalistic terms. Treaty outcomes are measured on the basis of the direct effects of their norms. State ratification and incorporation of treaty norms in domestic legal orders are perceived as the principal ways whereby human rights treaties penetrate into and transform domestic contexts. A common prescription for better treaty implementation is to increase their coercive enforcement. I call this view human rights instrumentalism and, in this thesis, argue that it offers a limited understanding of the role that the treaties play in national arenas. The thesis illustrates that, in the years following the adoption of the Disabilities Convention in 2006, vibrant legal and policy developments have taken place in the two countries studied. Those laws and policies have typically embraced the international law. Yet, when tracing their lineage, the Convention’s effects are seen to be largely indirect to those domestic legal reforms. At the same time, the research identifies a significant non-legal impact of the Convention, which, regardless of the particular norms of the treaty or domestic incorporation thereof, profoundly affects the social fabric of Australia and Mongolia. The thesis argues that such an outcome emanates essentially from the symbolic or political power of the treaty, and describes the subtle ways in which the Disabilities Convention functions as a social symbol in the two domestic contexts

Interrelation between Social Intelligence and Journalism

The article discusses what the social intelligence is, why it is essential to study it, and what are the objects or aspects of the social intelligence consists of, and its forms, as well as positive-impact and negative-impact factors in maturity of the social intelligence in terms of the Mongolian nomadic point of view which is the concept ‘all is one’, and of the modern theories of social sciences. In the course of the research, we have seen that the social intelligence might be the cross-disciplinary target of the social sciences, particularly of media science, media institutions such as professional broadcasting or publishing companies, and journalists, reporters and researchers that affect and shape the social intelligence, that the intelligent demand to clarify and advance the concept of the social intelligence have arisen

Why Was Mongolia Successful? Political and Economic Transition in 1990-1996

Mongolia's historical, geographical, political, and economic circumstances seem to be closest to those of the Central Asian states. Yet, unlike these states, Mongolia was able to successfully transition to a democratic political regime and introduce far-reaching economic reforms. This dissertation analyzes this puzzle by focusing on the early transition period in Mongolia. The dissertation provides detailed account of political and economic processes during the ten years from 1987 to 1996. The account of events is based on primary data drawn from government and party documents, cabinet minutes, daily newspaper accounts, memoirs of the participants, and detailed interviews with the participants of the events. In addition to the detailed description, the dissertation provides alternative theoretical frameworks - as opposed to the structural explanations provided thus far - which could be useful in explaining why things happened the way they did in Mongolia. Namely, the dissertation brings in two groups of political economy theories - institutions and constitutional design and special interest and collective action theories -and attempts to explain the events in Mongolia through the lens of these theoretical arguments. The first chapter provides a comprehensive literature review on Mongolia's political and economic transition and places it in a comparative perspective. The second chapter describes and analyzes the nature and extent of the partial economic and political reforms that were implemented in the late communist period. The third chapter describes in detail the political events that led to the collapse of the long-standing communist regime and the subsequent radical political changes that took place following the peaceful "democratic revolution". The fourth chapter deals in detail with the economic shock the country faced with the withdrawal of the Soviet financial assistance, the first policy response, and the overall politics of economic decision making. I pay special attention to privatization, the cornerstone of early reform attempts. The last chapter summarizes, classifies, and prioritizes the variety of factors - historical, external, political, institutional, and cultural - that were identified as having contributed to the successful political and economic transition

The influence of the market on curricular provision by higher education institutions in Mongolia

This thesis examines the changes in Mongolian higher education in the context of the market and to assess their influence on institutions of higher education, in particular on curricular provision at undergraduate level. There is a sufficient number of theoretical as well as empirical research studies and publications on market-oriented or marketised higher education systems, but the literature reveals that there has been little research specifically addressing the effect of the market on undergraduate curricular provision. In the context of post-communist countries, there is also scant research that addressed the issues that arose in undergraduate provision during the transition period. Employing a multiple case study as a methodological approach, this thesis engages with Clark’s (1983:142) concept of ‘the triangle of coordination’ with, the three elements of coordination - state, market and academe -, and Jongbloed’s (2003) model of ‘the eight conditions for a market’ for higher education institutions. It shows what the nature of changes in Mongolian HE is since the first new democratic Education Law that set the foundation of market practices in higher education, how they came about and what the causes were, in order to understand the influence of this context on the provision. Through the thematic analysis of interviews and document review, the study shows how the higher education reform policy has been interpreted and implemented at the institutional level, and how this context has influenced undergraduate curricular provision. The study finds that, for Mongolian universities, academic programmes were the core factor in the increase of financial resources, consumer attraction and an institution’s reputation. There were two distinctive phenomena in terms of curricular responsiveness. One was the emergence of a wide range of new courses and new fields. The other was conceptual changes in delivering knowledge. The findings of causes for opening new fields were important as these illustrated the strength of the influence over undergraduate provision by either state or market

Reviewing the Quality of Master’s Dissertations

This article reviews the quality of research done at the master's level at the National Academy of Governance, Mongolia. It explains the concepts of theories regarding the evaluation of research, and analyses master’s dissertations with the 16 criteria in seven categories. The overall analytical framework was based on the general criteria of credibility to define the quality of research, which was presented by Mårtensson et.al. (2016:597), as well as the questions to establish criteria that were used by Coughlan, Cronin, Ryan (2007:658) and CASP. The research result introduces subjects that research quality should focus upon to make better content, first and foremost being the internal accuracy of the research

Sustainable Use of Crushed Concrete Waste as A Road Base Material

Crushed concrete waste is a by-product from building demolition and constitutes a principal component of municipal solid waste consisting of concrete, sand, brick, rock, metals and timber. Over 50% of this waste is commonly sent to land-filled sites, resulting in the impact on the limited capacity of land-filled sites. Nowadays, the sources of virgin natural aggregates aredepleted by increases in demand of using a virgin material in building and infrastructure, construction and maintenance facilities. This depletion leads to the utilisation of crushed concrete waste to replace natural aggregates in road and highway construction. Of key significance of this study is to present alternative materials for road and highway construction on the production of the proper guideline for road base by using crushed concrete waste.Sophisticated tests were conducted to investigate the mechanical responses of compacted crushed concrete subjected to applied loads simulated from traffic loads. Unconfined compressive strength, shear strength parameters and the resilient modulus of such material were determined. Our findings showed that crushed concrete waste is able to be utilised as a road base material. The results of this study will enhance increased use of crushed concrete waste in road and highway construction and will, therefore, alternatively reduce consumption and costs in manufacturing virgin aggregates

Vocal Registers Transitions Phenomena in trills used in Mongolian Long Song productions

Résumés longs et références publiés dans les actes du congrès.International audienceThis paper presents the results of a fiberoptical and acoustical analysis of "Mongolian Long song". Our goal is to quantify the vocal registers transition phenomena during the trills that occur during these Mongolian Long Song productions. The study includes: 1) videofiberoptic laryngeal data of the 61 ornaments of a song produced by a famous Mongolian singer, Narantuya, with quantitative analysis (distance between the left and right arytenoids); 2) an acoustical analysis of the fundamental frequency F0 and intensity I curves of the ornaments. The fiberoptic analysis showed two main laryngeal behaviour in producing ornamentations, with a leitmotiv: 1) "lyrical" vibratos mobilizing the entire laryngeal block; 2) "Mongolian" trills with essentially supraglottic movements, the left arytenoid being mobilized independently of the rest of the laryngeal block. The acoustic analysis showed: 1) for the "lyrical" vibrato: F0 and I were in-phase, with a moderate extent ; 2) for the "Mongolian" trill: F0 and I were in opposite phase, with an important extent. Although we didn't have electroglottographic recordings to verify this, the acoustical indications of changes of laryngeal vibratory mechanisms are 1) frequency jump values situated between 2 and 7 semitones; 2) the time separating the two frequency jumps between 40 and 80ms; 3) according to Neumann et al. 2005, the amplitudes of H2 and H4 are smaller than those of H1 et H3 for the head register part in "a" trills; it's the opposite case for the chest register part in those ornaments.Cette étude présente les résultats d'une analyse vidéostroboscopique et acoustique du "Chant Long Mongol". Notre but est de quantifier les passages registraux durant les trilles qui se produisent dans cette technique vocale. Cette étude inclut: 1) des données vidéostroboscopiques du larynx de 61 ornement d'un chant produit par une chanteuse mongole célèbre, Narantuya, avec une analyse quantitative (distance entre les aryténoïdes droit et gauche); 2) une analyse acoustique des courbes de fréquence fondamentale FO et d'intensité I des ornements. L'analyse en vidéostroboscopie montre deux principaux comportements laryngés dans la production des ornementations, avec des données reproductibles: 1) les vibrati "lyriques" mobilisant le bloc laryngé entier; 2) les trilles "mongols" avec des mouvements essentiellement supraglottiques, l'aryténoïde gauche étant mobilisé indépendamment du reste du bloc laryngé. L'analyse acoustique a montré: 1) pour les vibrati "lyriques": une F0 et une I en phase, avec une étendue des modulations modérées; 2) pour le trille "mongol": F0 et I étaient en opposition de phase, avec une étendue importante. Bien que ne disposant pas d'enregistrements électroglottographiques pour vérifier cela, les indications acoustiques de changement de mécanismes vibratoires laryngés sont: 1) des valeurs de sauts de fréquence situés entre 2 et 7 demi-tons; 2) le temps séparant les deux sauts de fréquence est situé entre 40 et 80 ms; 3) en accord avec les résultats de Neuman et al. 2005, les amplitudes de H2 et H4 sont plus basses que celles de H1 et H3 pour les trilles produits en mécanisme 2 sur la voyelle "a"; c'est le cas inverse pour le mécanisme 1 dans ces ornements