DOI: https://doi.org/10.36347/sjahss.2026.v14i09.004

Pages: 359-367

In September 2015, Mongolia officially introduced the policy of permanent neutrality. However, the implementation of this policy was not smooth and in May 2020, the Mongolian government abandoned the policy. There is a lack of in-depth systematic research on reasons for the abandonment, especially research from a theoretical perspective. Based on realist theory about neutrality, two research hypotheses regarding reasons for the abandonment are deduced: First, there was an insufficient balance of power among major powers when the policy was being promoted; Second, if Mongolia became a permanently neutral country, relevant major powers could not obtain balanced benefits. The two hypotheses above have been empirically verified. When examining the reasons for the difficult promotion of the policy, the concepts of “weak imbalance” and “strong imbalance” were introduced, thus enriching the realist perspective on neutrality.