It is possible he usurped the throne from Urtarsirsira, a distinguished son of Lugalanda. However he continued to live in the first year of Urukagina's reign.

Urukagina was the last Old Sumerian ruler of Lagash before its conquest by Lugalzagesi of Umma and the subsequent Sargonic period. His reign witnessed a gradually shrinking sphere of political power under threat from both Uruk and Umma, that at one point forced him to abandon Lagash and move his capital to Girsu. At the same time, he instituted a well-known series of reforms that attempted to rebalance some of the economic iniquities between the poor and elite social classes.

On the regional level, Urukagina faced military danger from others before the final threat by Lugalzagesi. Numerous administrative texts attest to repeated attacks by Uruk upon the Lagash state. (DP 545), for instance, mentions a siege by the man of Uruk upon the city, which Bauer takes to mean Girsu (Bauer pg. 479). Another administrative text (NIK 1, 227) is dated to the 'month that the man of Uruk came a third time'. These inter-city attacks demonstrated the widening scope of military campaigns in southern Mesopotamia and the resulting political entities that grew out of them. Already before Sargon and Lugalzagesi, Enshagkushana of Uruk claimed the titles 'lord of Sumer' (en ki-en-gi) and 'king of the land' (lugal kalam-ma), having conquered Kish and Akshak, and even besieging Akkad (Bauer pg. 480).