Call for papers - Special Issue "BRICS 15 years later: challenges and opportunities in the face of its expansion"

2024-05-06

Special Issue: "The BRICS 15 years later: challenges and opportunities in the face of its expansion"

Organizers: Laerte Apolinário (PUC-SP) and Augusto Rinaldi (PUC-SP).

Deadline for submission: October 15, 2024

Since the origin of BRICS in 2009, analyses of the group have reflected sentiments ranging from skepticism to optimism. Coverage of the themes and areas in which the group operates is equally varied, with studies focusing on its origins and institutionalization over time; while others discuss the incentives and challenges of acting at regional and global levels; some analyze the group's performance on specific issues, and others still study the identity that BRICS has assumed in contemporary international relations. Analysts also point to the prospects and limitations of an arrangement composed of regional powers, established powers, and countries with relatively less power. The literature addressing BRICS does not present a widely accepted understanding of the best way to characterize it. Some consider it a coalition group, while others define it as a platform for cooperation between emerging countries with a diffuse agenda. More recent research describes it as a club or a strategic alignment between emerging powers. In the last decade, part of international analysts and observers, particularly Europeans and North Americans, have argued that given the heterogeneity of the countries that make up BRICS, it would be very difficult to form a coherent arrangement capable of delivering practical results. Thus, in the decade following its creation, the BRICS group and the narrative of emerging powers lost some of their appeal. The economic growth of its members stagnated, with the exception of India and China, and internal political challenges restricted the foreign policies of its members. Over the years, more critical studies on the narrative of these emerging powers have become common. Although these criticisms are not new, the general tone regarding the relevance and potential of this group to shape major events has become more pessimistic. The most recent studies have emphasized their practical limitations, especially due to the growing asymmetry between their members, given China's economic and geopolitical rise, without necessarily questioning the relevance of emerging powers.

In light of the recent international context of the global economic crisis resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, the intensification of tensions between Western and non-Western countries due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and the growing strategic rivalry between the United States and China, where countries have been pressured to "take sides" in an increasingly aligned world around well-defined geopolitical and economic agendas, the BRICS arrangement has regained global prominence. Despite skepticism and contradicting the more pessimistic expectations, BRICS members have strengthened their cooperation, and in 2024, the bloc expanded to include five new countries, marking the largest expansion since its creation in 2009.

The acronym BRICS first appeared in 2001 in a report by Jim O’Neill, then chief economist at Goldman Sachs, which pointed to the long-term investment opportunities in those countries due to the high rates of economic growth they were experiencing at the time—with promising future prospects. In 2006, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting, the foreign ministers of Brazil, Russia, India, and China met to identify potential points of diplomatic convergence, and from there, they began to articulate politically. From that moment on, they realized there were opportunities to deepen relationships and align positions on general issues in international relations, particularly the need to update existing global governance structures.

In this context, in 2009, in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, the countries met again, and this meeting marked the moment when BRICS (at that time, without South Africa) abandoned its "initial investment brand" to become a political entity with international aspirations. Among these aspirations, it advocated for an international system based on principles of multilateral cooperation, respect for international law, and greater space for developing countries to assume responsibilities and contribute to structuring the global governance spheres. Adopting a position of "representatives" of developing countries, BRICS would act in the international arena advocating for a more legitimate, representative, and inclusive order for the interests of developing countries.

South Africa's inclusion occurred in 2011, and since then, the annual meetings have regularly incorporated broader topics, including discussions on humanitarian interventions, technology transfers, promotion of development programs and foreign aid, cooperation for poverty alleviation, global health, and combating terrorism. In 2014, at the VI Summit held in Fortaleza, the countries advanced the institutionalization process by launching the New Development Bank. In 2023, during the XV Summit held in Johannesburg, BRICS decided to invite six new members—Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, and Iran—giving greater representation to countries from Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. It is still unclear which criteria were considered for accepting these countries, but it is possible to highlight some factors that seem to have been relevant in the decision: i) all of them have some regional geopolitical importance; ii) some are energy powers—Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Iran; iii) some are military powers—Saudi Arabia and Iran; iv) they represent large populations, economies, and varying degrees of dissatisfaction with the current liberal international order.

In this sense, BRICS seems to have identified opportunities for strengthening relations that can be explored to instrumentalize the arrangement to defend agendas and interests common to all members—and potentially to other interested countries—as well as to incorporate new and previously marginalized agendas. Regarding the reasons for the new countries joining BRICS, one can highlight the desire to gain greater political, economic, and financial capital in global governance; low cost of belonging to the arrangement; a "safe" space for diplomatic exchange; access to a wide range of economic options; and strengthening in the construction and consolidation of "parallel institutions"—such as the New Development Bank. However, the challenges are also significant, including the intensification of regional geopolitical rivalries—China and India; Saudi Arabia and Iran; the growing Chinese prominence within the arrangement; the collective action dilemma with an expanded group; the identity BRICS will assume moving forward—status quo or anti-Western revisionist; and the issue of energy transition, climate change, and the presence of large oil producers and exporters.

Thus, the process of the rise and consolidation of BRICS as a new global power pole adds complexity to the analysis of current international relations, which seem to be undergoing profound changes in the dynamics of international political economy and global geopolitics. The global political economy dimension encompasses what has been called the formation of two "globalization zones" in which the United States and China organize, each in its own way, trade exchange patterns, financial transactions, and the construction of multilateral institutions limited to those "within" each zone. On one side, the launch of the "Belt and Road Initiative" (BRI) in 2013 and the "Global Development Initiative" (GDI) in 2021 by China marks this strategy; on the other side, the launch of the "Partnership for Global Infrastructure Investment" (PGII) by the United States and other G7 countries in 2022 illustrates the American zone.

The geopolitical dimension, in turn, refers to the dynamics of alignments, alliances, and the creation/strengthening of arrangements between countries, resulting in the formation of geopolitical constellations with the potential to impact the international distribution of power. The recent decision to expand BRICS and China's launch of the "Global Security Initiative" (GSI) in 2022, as well as the reactivation of the QUAD arrangement by the United States in 2017 and successive NATO expansions in Eastern Europe, point in this direction.

Thus, BRICS may be experiencing one of the most important moments in its history today. Representing about 46% of the global population and nearly 30% of the world's economy, in addition to 43% of global oil production, BRICS has been an interesting research subject due to some of its particularities, especially the presence of regional and established powers, an increasingly expanded agenda, and its consolidation as a relevant actor in various areas of international relations. BRICS, therefore, broadens the scope of analysis regarding its relations with the international order and leads to questioning its place in the global power structure and how its recent enlargement might affect current international political dynamics.

Considering the celebration of 15 years since BRICS' formation and the challenges associated with its consolidation as a power pole, this Thematic Dossier of Conjuntura Internacional invites specialists, researchers, and academics to contribute their perspectives and analyses on BRICS' place in 21st-century international relations, with special attention to its recent expansion in 2024. We expect to receive papers proposing discussions on the ongoing transformations in international politics, BRICS' role in this context, the interests of the new countries in joining the arrangement, the difficulties and opportunities the expansion presents for its members, the identity BRICS might assume, its relations—and those of its members—with current global governance, and the potential regional and systemic effects of an expanded BRICS. We hope, through this, that the papers explore the various dimensions of the arrangement in light of ongoing changes in the international landscape and contribute to a better understanding of both its achievements and its limitations and challenges.

Any questions or doubts regarding this Thematic Dossier can be sent to the editorial team of Conjuntura Internacional magazine or to the Dossier editors, Augusto Leal Rinaldi (alrinaldi@pucsp.br) and Laerte Apolinário Júnior (laerteapj@gmail.com).