How the Global South is building a better world, Bric by Bric

If Western countries want to enter the house the Brics nations are building, it would have to be as genuine partners rather than would-be landlords

Anthony Rowley

Published: 4:30pm, 6 Jul 2024

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Could it be that a new world political and economic order is being built slowly and stealthily? The Brics grouping – initially comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – is growing from its modest foundations into an entity with more global reach.

Last month, Thailand and Malaysia announced their interest in joining the expanding Brics family. Indonesia is looking into it, and Vietnam has said it is monitoring the expansion with interest. This week, Chinese President Xi Jinping said he supported Kazakhstan joining the grouping. The inclusion of these countries would mark a further and significant stage in what has been the steady expansion of the organisation.

Brazil’s Institute of Applied Economic Research describes Brics as having an “informal character”. “There is no charter, it does not work with a fixed secretariat, nor does it have any funds to finance its activities. Ultimately, what sustains the mechanism is the political will of its members,” it noted.

To some, that might sound too vague to be appealing. What, then, has attracted the interest of countries around Asia and elsewhere? Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates have joined the bloc, and more countries are reportedly waiting in line.

The allure could be seen as a reaction among some countries to attempts by the United States and its allies to herd them into ideologically defined pens. Instead, they would prefer the relative freedom of a non-aligned haven.

Within the Brics framework, they can come together on the issues of their choosing to create a more global voice without feeling pressured by any other country into taking sides. That is a powerful incentive and a facilitator of cooperation at a time when coercion is becoming endemic among global powers.

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This kind of expedient, ad hoc collaboration is likely to continue growing in allure for developing countries as they find themselves under pressure to align with the West in conflicts over values and actual wars. The recent spectacles coming out of US politics, such as the first debate between US President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump or the regular congressional wrangling over government funding and the debt ceiling, could heighten the appeal of Brics.

The world has moved away from top-down multilateralism since major powers discovered that they can no longer run the show on their own. If multilateralism is to survive, it has to be rebuilt from the bottom up by national leaders learning to cooperate on the basis of equality.

Is Brics a suitable vehicle for achieving this? It has the advantage of not including among its members Western countries that have used other multilateral vehicles to promote their own ambitions. However, that on its own will not be enough to ensure the grouping’s future viability as a global institution.

The bloc does have economic power on its side. Including the new entrants, Brics represents nearly one third of global gross domestic product. The grouping would control more than 40 per cent of the world’s oil reserves if Saudi Arabia, which has been invited, joins, and its members are otherwise commodity-rich. The inclusion of Kazakhstan would add to its energy clout. Many Brics members are also demographically rich with relatively young populations.

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However, no single trade and investment bloc, multilateral organisation or other grouping – and there are many such groups these days – is going to succeed unless it can achieve widespread acceptance and broad membership.

Why should Brics be any more successful in this regard than peers such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, which is also relatively loose-knit? The answer to this is that the Brics grouping serves as a retreat and halfway house, both of which are needed at this time of acute polarisation.

Many nations around the world appear to want an organisation that does not force them to take moral positions – the retreat function – while also providing a mechanism to bring together heads of state for periodic summits. This latter aspect is the halfway house en route to a more globalised world once key powers can settle their differences.

It could serve as a haven for the foreseeable future. Great power relations seem destined to become even more fraught as the US tries to come to grips with its own internal issues while countries around the world fight to contain growing nationalism and the increasing popularity of protectionism.

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The Brics framework does have mechanisms for dealing with trade and investment disputes, so cooperation can continue to expand among its members at this level as long as the issues are not allowed to become overly politicised. This is where the membership of Brics differs from that of other forums.

Neither the US nor any European Union nation are among its members. China, Russia and India are, of course, but while each of them has shown the desire to increase their global influence, they have not shown the same zeal as the US and many European nations to impose their values on others.

In their eagerness to have other countries choose a side, Western powers have run afoul of those they wish to persuade. If they want to enter the house that the Brics nations are building, it will have to be as genuine partners rather than would-be landlords or lords of the manor.

Anthony Rowley is a veteran journalist specialising in Asian economic and financial affairs