Roads that Divide Us: Extractive Transport Infrastructure and Social Change among Herders in Southern Mongolia

This article examines the social impacts of transport infrastructure development driven by the expansion of the mining industry in Southern Mongolia. Roads are analyzed not only as instruments of integration and modernization of peripheral territories, but also as factors contributing to social differentiation and fragmentation of local communities. Drawing on fieldwork data, including interviews with pastoralist herders and local government officials, the study demonstrates that different types of roads – railways, paved roads, and unpaved roads – produce distinct yet interconnected effects on spatial and social organization. Railways function as rigid barriers that disrupt traditional nomadic routes while only marginally incorporating herders into emerging economic processes. Paved roads introduce new risks, particularly livestock losses, while simultaneously improving access to services. Unregulated unpaved roads have the most extensive and disruptive impact, exacerbating environmental and social risks and generating spatial instability. Overall, the emerging system of mobility not only integrates the region into the global economy but also contributes to the marginalization of pastoralists, dramatically increases the level of heterogeneity of this group.