ABSTRACT
Vladimir Putin’s post–September 11 strategic choice has withstood the test of Iraq. Integration with what is still commonly referred to as “the West” has ceased to be an ideological and philosophical issue in Russia. Instead, it has become a very practical one. Russian elites discuss the terms of various economic, political, and security “joint ventures” with the West. However, it has become clear that Russia’s integration is above everything else the product of its internal transformation, the development of a market system, based on the rule of law, that boosts the formation of a civil society and leads toward political democracy. There have been ups and downs along that path.
