Between War and Peace. Mongolia and the Making of Eurasian Order

The Cambridge Mongolia Forum, developed by and , brings Mongolian scholars and policymakers into dialogue with Cambridge-based researchers on major regional issues. It aims to connect urgent policy concerns with historical depth, comparative analysis, and rigorous academic interpretation.

This third Forum focuses on the expanding space between war and peace: a condition marked by prolonged hostilities, securitisation, fragile diplomacy, and the risk of escalation. Against the backdrop of the Russia–Ukraine War and shifting Eurasian alignments, Mongolia faces a constrained geopolitical environment between Sino–Russian alignment, democratic commitments, and “third neighbour” partnerships.

The Forum also examines how Inner Asian peoples across Russia, Mongolia, and China are affected by militarisation, ethnic stereotyping, state securitisation, and decisions made far from their own communities.

Marking MIASU’s 40th anniversary, the Forum revisits long-term Eurasian debates on order-making, including Chinggisid legacies, while addressing contemporary questions of peace diplomacy, military culture, and minority governance.

Across five panels, the Forum asks: how are war and peace made, governed, and narrated across Eurasia today, and what can Mongolia and Inner Asian histories contribute to strengthening the conditions for peace?

After clicking “Reserve a spot”, you will have the option to book tickets for Day 1, the Day 1 reception, and/or Day 2.

11:00–11:30 – Welcome & Opening Remarks

Caroline Humphrey | Founder of MIASU

David Sneath | Director of MIASU

H.E. Munkhjin Batsumber | Mongolian Ambassador to the UK

Uradyn E. Bulag | Organiser, Cambridge Mongolia Forum

11:30–13:00 – Panel 1: Conquests and Peace in Chinggisid Eurasia

Chair: Caroline Humphrey, MIASU, Cambridge

David Sneath | University of Cambridge
A Peasantry in the Guise of an Army: The Mongol Empire and the Political Economy of Warfare on the Steppe

Ayşe Zarakol | University of Cambridge
How historically unique was Chinggisid Sovereignty?

L. Munkh-Erdene | National University of Mongolia
War and Peace in the Chinggisid Tradition: Insights from Conquest Theory

13:00–14:00– Lunch

14:00–15:30 – Panel 2: Mongolia's Peace Diplomacy in an Age of War: Religion, Survival and Sovereignty

Chair: Uradyn Bulag, MIASU, Cambridge

Munkhnaran Bayarlkhagva | MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society
Mongolia's Buddhist Peace in the International Order

Zolboo Sandag | University of Bern
Between Pan-Mongolism and Survival: Peace Diplomacy in Mongolia, 1911–1930

Javzandorj Byambatseveen | Ember Cyber Service Mongolia LLC
Cybersecurity as Sovereignty Governance: Data Security and National Resilience in Mongolia

15:30–16:00– Break

16:00–17:00–Onon Prize Lecture followed by Q&A

Nicola Di Cosmo | Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
From War to Peace in the Mongol Empire

MIASU 40th Anniversary Reception

09:15–09:30–Welcome & Day 2 Introduction

09:30–11:00–Panel 3: Reinventing Inner Asian Military Cultures in the Twenty-First Century
Chair: Kristina Jonutytė, MIASU, Cambridge

Sayana Namsaraeva | MIASU, Cambridge
"Awakening the Sleeping Genes of Chinggis Khan": Buryat Soldiers and Post-Mongol Empire Ressentiment in Wartime Russia

Hildegard Diemberger | University of Cambridge
Defending the Land in the Twenty-First Century: More-than-Human Perspectives from the Himalayan Borderlands

Stephan Dudeck | Lithuanian Institute of History
Militarised Masculinities on the Periphery: Economic Precarity, Inequality, and Indigenous Recruitment in Russia's War

11:00–11:15–Break

11:15–12:45–Panel 4: Remilitarisation of Minorities in the Russia–Ukraine War
Chair: Sayana Namsaraeva, MIASU, Cambridge

Kristina Jonutytė | University of Cambridge
"We're not very dramatic": Agency, Victimhood and Belonging among Inner Asian Wartime Migrants from Russia

Hiroki Takakura | Tohoku University
War multiculturalism in Russia and Siberian Indigenous Peoples

Maria Vyushkova | University of Cambridge
2022 Partial Mobilisation Campaign in Russia and Its Impact on Russia's Ethnic Minorities: What We Know as of 2026

12:45–14:00– Lunch

Keynote Address

Gulnaz Sharafutdinova| King's College London
Holding On to Who We Are: Land, Memory, and Minority Belonging in Russia

14:45–15:00–Break

15:00–16:30–Panel 5: Civilisational Peace, Frontier Violence and Minority Governance in China
Chair: Hildegard Diemberger, MIASU, Cambridge

Robert Barnett | King's College London
A "Life-and-death Struggle": Pacifist versus Militarist Claims in Tibetan and Chinese Rhetoric

Mukaddes Muhtar | Palacky University Olomouc, Czechia
The Craft Guilds as Mediators between the State and Local Craft-Makers in Rural Southern Xinjiang

Uradyn E. Bulag | University of Cambridge
Conquest for Peace: The Cunning of China's Peace Gene

16:30–18:00–Roundtable: What Role Can Minorities Play in Building Eurasian Peace?