This book provides an overview of the major developments in Kazakhstan over the past decade. In analyzing a series of challenges (such as the need on behalf of the current Kazakh president – Kassym-Jomart Tokayev – to restore legitimacy in the government in the aftermath of "Bloody January" as well as Astana’s managing of relations with Russia, China, and the West), this book offers readers a timely understanding concerning how power has been wielded, mishandled, and reasserted in this country. This book explores the achievements of Kazakhstan’s modernization drive, the government’s prolonged initial political transition, the rise of a local civil society, the events of January 2022, and Kazakhstan’s relations with Russia and the West. Written by a political scientist who previously worked at the country’s flagship university, Leaders of the Nation: Kazakhstan during the Twilight of the Nazarbayev Era and the Russo-Ukrainian War outlines why Kazakhstan warrants our earnest attention.