International scientific relations of the "new type": Soviet-Mongolian academic cooperation, 1920s-1930s
The article examines what is behind the definition of Soviet-Mongolian scientific connections that took place in Soviet historiography as a relationship of a new type. Regarding this objective, the prerequisites and history of establishment in the mid 1920s of close cooperation between the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and the Committee of Sciences of the Mongolian People's Republic (the first Mongolian scientific institution), its specifics, the main disciplinary fields, and some quantitative results are discussed. It is noted that almost during all this period the cooperation of the Academy of Sciences with the Committee of Sciences was organizationally separated from its other contacts and took place in the conditions of limited international communications of the two countries’ researchers. A certain attention is paid to the reasons for the interest of Soviet scientists in studies of Mongolia. It is shown that the Academy of Sciences could obtain government support in organizing research activities in Mongolia in response to the requests of the Committee of Sciences to assist in the study of the country. The model and structure of scientific relations were built according to external factors (international isolation of Mongolia until 1946) and internal factors (development of national scientific society and institutions), within the framework of international treaties, and on the basis of agreements between the Academy of Sciences and the Committee of Sciences. The author concludes that Soviet-Mongolian academic cooperation today cannot be considered only within the framework of Soviet expansion into Mongolia. The definition given in the title of the article reflects the actual aspects of contacts between Soviet and Mongolian researchers that differed from the cooperation with other international partners. The Committee of Sciences provided the Academy of Sciences with an opportunity to implement its wide-ranging and decades-long research programs on the territory of Mongolia, and the Soviet researchers assisted the Committee of Sciences in studying of the country and in the development of Mongolian scientific institutions.