Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa basically, known as the BRICS. These are the powerful alliance targeting to influence the global level, which has largely been led by US (UNITED STATES) .The BRICS nation have recently met for a summit in South Africa to discuss for expanding their group as their economics are already large, significant populations, and big ambitions. Countries like Argentina, Saudi Arabia, and Algeria saw BRICS as a possible alternative to the current US-led financial and political system, so they shown interest in joining BRICS.
Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, will not attend the August 22-24 conclave in Johannes burg, South Africa but will participate through video conference for saving the country’s embarrassment of hosting a leader with an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant against him related to Moscow’s War in Ukraine. If Putin were visit in South Africa, he would be arrested there because South Africa is a member of ICC and, under international law.
One reason BRICS is appealing in its economic strength. In terms of purchasing power, the BRICS countries have a larger economy than the G7. But their global influence doesn’t match this size .For instance, at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), despite producing 26% of the global GDP, BRICS nations have only 15%of voting power. Among many countries, there are concern that US can use its currency, the dollar as a weapon, imposing sanctions like it has on Russia. To counter this, and for avoiding US financial control, BRICS members are trying to trade in their own currencies instead of dollar .
Whereas, Internal challenges like border disputes (India -China) make it hard for BRICS to create a new world order. Whereas, Countries like Brazil, India, and South Africa want good relationships with both the West and BRICS countries (China and Russia). These all reasons makes difficult to align on a unified vision.
While, BRICS may not replace the US-led system ,but providing alternatives especially in financial matters. BRICS has its own development bank for funding projects in the Global South, targeting to decrease reliance on institutions like the World Bank and IMF, which are dominated by Western countries. As the bank still relies on dollars for most of its funding, but BRICS countries are exploring ways to trade without the dollar, this is still a work in progress.
Enlarging BRICS could give the group more power, but not everyone is on board. For example, India thinks BRICS needs to resolve its internal tensions like China-India border disputes before expanding. Secondly, Brazil is caution, if more countries join, it might weaken it’s influence. However, China support’s the idea because it sees more members as a way to increase BRICS’ global power.
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Brics doesn’t ask for sides which means it doesn’t force to choose sides between it and the US -led system. Instead of this, it wants to serve countries more options. BRICS’ goal is to create alternatives that better serve emerging economies not to overthrow the current world order. This perspectives could lead to tension s with the west but BRICS reflects a growing desire in the Global South to have more say in global affairs, especially given recent frustrations with the existing US-led system.
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