ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a brief overview of Russia’s political and economic trajectories in the Putin era, with an emphasis on the role of agency in these changes. It focuses on the key critical junctures and their effects. The chapter examines the choices made in 1999–2000, 2011–14, and 2020–2022. The beginning of the Putin era was a matter of several coincidences in the struggle between different segments of Russian elites for leadership succession after Boris Yeltsin. In the international arena, the Putin era started with wholehearted support for the United States after the 9/11 terrorist attack and attempts at cooperation with North Atlantic Treaty Organization. For almost a quarter century of the Putin era, Russia demonstrated a trajectory to some extent typical of many autocracies across the globe. During the Putin era, Russia demonstrated increasing international ambitions, which were driven by the pursuit of revenge for Russia’s loss in the Cold War.
