> Well, there's also fractures and differences of opinion within the elites
> themselves. I mean, serfdom wasn't abolished by a broad social movement.
> It was abolished by Tsar Alexander after a long struggle between pro- and
> antiserfdom factions within the Imperial elite.
True. No single crisis moment created today's Russian developmental state: it evolved out of a complex constellation of factors (ruthless oligarchs, corrupt party elites, foreign neoliberals, falling energy prices, dissatisfied siloviki and scientific-managerial professionals, etc.).
Probably every noteworthy historical change or transition was preceded by decades, if not centuries, of slow, accretive transformation.
-- DRR