Debates on the evolution and contemporary role of the BRICS’s are markedly dominated by a binary, zero-sum framing of discourses which reduce the bloc to a geopolitical counterweight and challenge to the Western-dominated international order, and a threat to democracy and liberal political values.
Many analysts simply view the BRICS as a political, ideological bloc chipping away at the US and Western-led world order.
They band together China and Russia, viewed as the main protagonists behind the BRICS, mistakenly conflating the narrow geopolitical concerns, while understating the shared concerns with the problematic global economic architecture.
The tropes of fear and geopolitical leadership replacement only feeds into polarisation, fuelling global uncertainty at a time when the world needs extensive dialogue to create a more representative resilient multi-polar world order.
As the BRICS Summit kicked-off in Kazan, Russia, finance ministers and leaders from around the world showed up for the fall meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington, the two Bretton Woods institutions that must always have a European and US leader, respectively.
Since the end of the 2nd world war, these, and other Western dominated international institutions have stirred consternation in the global south leading to loud calls for reforms to make such institutions more representative and responsive to the interests and priorities of developing countries.
Thus the 2024 BRICS summit held under the theme, “Strengthening Multilateralism for Equitable Global Development and Security”, focussed on reimagining and reforming the global system to better reflect contemporary political and economic realities as well as the priorities of the members of the BRICS bloc, and the Global South.
There is obviously a lot of global disaffection with the post-World War 2 status quo in which the global financial architecture has remained skewed in favour of the few super rich countries. For several decades, leaders from developing countries have made this point, while pushing for reforms in multilateral institutions.
A combination of reluctance or lack of political will, and fear on the part of countries in the North has hampered objective dialogue and action towards critical reforms in the international system.
In the absence of objective inclusive transformative dialogue and action between the rich North, and the marginalised Global South, then the BRICS is, and will be the nucleus upon which these emerging economies can exercise cooperative self-help, in other words, doing it for themselves.
The summit in Kazan brought together leaders from 36 countries, the nine BRICS member countries, and others interested in joining the bloc. Amongst these countries are India and China, the world’s two most populous countries.
China is also the world’s second largest economy after the USA. Although the bloc membership is predominantly made up of countries from the global south, Turkey, a member of the European Union, was also represented at the Summit. The United Nations was represented by its Secretary General, António Guterres.
The BRICS, which have emerged as a relatively obscure coalition including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and, later South Africa, has evolved into one of the most sought-after international institutions today, establishing itself as a major fixture of global governance.
In 2023, the BRICS gained substantial traction, with 23 states applying for membership and 40 expressing interest to join. While Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates joined the group in 2023, Saudi Arabia indicated its intention to become a member, with 34 countries other countries showing their desire to be part of the bloc
The BRICS has around 42% of the world’s population, almost 30% of the world’s territory, 27% of global GDP and around 20% of global trade. Its expansion has solidified its role as a hub for cooperation among major non-Western countries seeking deeper coordination and broader global governance reforms.
The bloc holds immense economic prospects in terms of its natural resources, social capital and intra-bloc financial cooperation and technology sharing.
The national interests driving the rapid expansion of the BRICS maybe diverse and complex. There is, however, a common denominator, a binding thread that is driving growing interest in the bloc rooted in its promising economic prospects and the evident progress so far made, as well as collective grievances with an international system that is oblivious to the interests of most of the world population who are in the Global South whose prospects for a better future continue to be hampered by the problematic global economic architecture.
Western powers have continued to exclusively dominated the post-World War 2 global financial architecture ensuring that international trade is done based on their currencies, and a system they have historically controlled.
The Bretton Woods institutions such as the World Bank/IMF Group, and international agencies such as the Basel Committee, the G7, OECD, the WTO, the G20 and UN structures such as the Security Council Global have continued to perpetuate neo-colonialist economic and financial hegemony of the developed economies against the Global South keeping the global majority who at the margins of the global economy.
The US dollar, and European major currencies disproportionately dominate global business and trade. Therefore, developing countries have a legitimate and moral case against prohibitively expensive correspondent banking charges for trade and investment transactions done through London, Frankfurt, and New York because of the dominance of the dollar, the euro and the pound.
Western rating agencies exacerbate risk projections and perceptions raising the cost of doing business in many countries in the Global South. The same currencies have been weaponised as part of sanctions regimes by the US and EU effected through their firm control of global trade and investment structures.
As the BRICS calls for engaging in international trade and business using national currencies, we should remember that this is not necessarily a new initiative.
During the 1980s, then Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahathir Muhammad set precedence in forging bilateral payment arrangements with Chile and Iran in local currencies at the respective central banks. However, at the risk of expulsion from the IMF this bold initiative faced a stillbirth.
The same call is taking a new resonance with the BRICS, bolstered by unprecedented interest from diverse countries in the Global South.
The BRICS has proven effective in fostering cooperation among diverse countries, leading to the establishment of the New Development Bank (NDB) and initiatives in a wide range of areas such as industrial development, trade, health, agriculture, science, energy, space, and digital technology.
This evolution has created a complex and extensive institutional infrastructure that reinforces intra-group multilateral cooperation among its members.
However, the core issue facing the group is whether it can pioneer a new form of multi-lateralism that upholds its normative principles like sovereignty, collective action at the UN level to protect the most vulnerable, and sustainable development while transcending traditional power dynamics.
To sustain its multilateral momentum, BRICS must pragmatically address structural concerns within the current system and build communities through inclusion rather than exclusion.
Crucially, Western powers must seriously engage in transformative dialogue and robust action to inclusively democratize the international system in a manner that address the priorities of the Global South.
Fundamentally, the West, and the United States in particular, should steer away from dissuading other nations from joining the bloc, but rather take a more constructive approach that inclusively addresses key global challenges in the Global South, the real issues at the core of the emerging multi-polar world.
Gideon Chitanga, PhD is a Post Doctoral Research at the Centre for China Africa Studies, University of Johannesburg.
The Star