I always learn something when I listen to smart people talk about their areas of expertise. On the Pod Save the World podcast episode I listened to yesterday, I picked up a lot of information – their podcast is always sweeping and informative – but one thing they referenced early in the show was the BRICS coalition, which is the subject of the above map.
I am not an expert on international relations, but I generally pay level two attention to what’s going on in the world. At various times, I have taught high-school-level classes on Foreign Policy and International Relations. But I had never heard of BRICS. The podcast’s discussion of it led me to check it out once I got back to my laptop.
The first thing I discovered was that I am not a total slacker for not knowing about BRICS; it was created as BRIC (no South Africa yet) in 2001, and became BRICS when South Africa joined in 2010. That was long after I was in school and might have been exposed to this alliance. So I don’t feel quite so bad.
This alliance includes fast-growing economies that economists believed would collectively dominate the global economy by 2050. I don’t know enough about the current economic situations in these countries (well, except maybe Russia and China) to confirm that this is an accurate assessment. The Wikipedia entry for BRICS says that four of the five members (the original BRIC nations) are among the ten largest countries in terms of population, area, and GDP. All five states are members of the G20 alliance of nations. The original purpose of identifying these fast-growing economies was to highlight investment opportunities there, but by 2009 the members had formed an increasingly cohesive geopolitical block. Their governments meet annually at formal summits and coordinate multilateral policies.
The podcast episode talked about BRICS yesterday because the 2023 summit, held in South Africa, was August 22-24 in South Africa.
This summit was notable for a number of reasons, but two of the most obvious items of interest involved the people who were NOT in attendance as expected: Xi Jingping of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia. President Xi met with the host Cyril Ramaphosa (President of South Africa) earlier in the day and attended the BRICS dinner afterward, but he unexpectedly did not attend the BRICS business forum, where he had been scheduled to speak. Putin did not attend in person but instead zoomed in to the meeting; because he has been indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court at The Hague, he risks arrest if he travels to an ICC signatory country. South Africa is a signatory (the US is not, by the way), and would be obligated under this status to honor the warrant and arrest Putin if he came to South Africa.
We should all recall that Jack Smith’s most recent gig (before coming back to the US to lead the investigation and prosecution of TFG and the rest of the Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight) was as the chief prosecutor for the special court in The Hague, where he investigated war crimes committed during the Kosovo War.
In his closing remarks to the media, South Africa’s President Ramaphosa summarized the focus of the discussion.
We welcome the clear vision of Ms Dilma Rousseff as the President of the New Development Bank on the role that the Bank should play in support of infrastructure and sustainable development in Africa and the Global South.
We celebrated the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the BRICS Business Council and welcomed the self-review by the Council and the subsequent recommendations made to Leaders.
We also welcomed the work of the BRICS Women’s Business Alliance in their first in-person engagement with leaders. We particularly welcomed the participation of youth representatives in the Summit.
We addressed our expectations for the BRICS economic partnership to generate tangible benefits for our communities and deliver viable solutions for common challenges faced by the global South.
We shared our vision of BRICS as a champion of the needs and concerns of the peoples of the Global South. These include the need for beneficial economic growth, sustainable development and reform of multilateral systems.
We reiterate our commitment to inclusive multilateralism and upholding international law, including the purposes and principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter.
We are concerned about ongoing conflicts in many parts of the world. We stress our commitment to the peaceful resolution of differences and disputes through dialogue and inclusive consultation.
The Summit noted that an unbalanced recovery from the hardship of the COVID-19 pandemic is exacerbating inequality across the world.
We encourage multilateral financial institutions and international organisations to play a constructive role in building global consensus on economic policies.
We have noted that there is global momentum for the use of local currencies, alternative financial arrangements and alternative payment systems.
As BRICS, we are ready to explore opportunities for improving the stability, reliability and fairness of the global financial architecture.
The Summit agreed to task the BRICS Finance Ministers and/or Central Bank Governors, as appropriate, to consider the issue of local currencies, payment instruments and platforms and report back to the BRICS leaders by the next Summit.
This Summit reaffirmed the importance of BRICS people-to-people exchanges in enhancing mutual understanding, friendship and cooperation.
The Summit appreciates the progress made over the last year in the fields of media, culture, education, sports, arts, youth, civil society and academic exchanges.
We adopted the Johannesburg II Declaration which reflects key BRICS messages on matters of global economic, financial and political importance.
It demonstrates the shared values and common interests that underlie our mutually beneficial cooperation as the five BRICS countries.
BRICS itself is a diverse group of nations.
It is an equal partnership of countries that have differing views but have a shared vision for a better world.
As the five BRICS countries, we have reached agreement on the guiding principles, standards, criteria and procedures of the BRICS expansion process, which has been under discussion for quite a while.
We have consensus on the first phase of this expansion process, and further phases will follow.
We have decided to invite the Argentine Republic, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to become full members of BRICS. The membership will take effect from 1 January 2024.
We value the interest of other countries in building a partnership with BRICS.
We have tasked our Foreign Ministers to further develop the BRICS partner country model and a list of prospective partner countries and report by the next Summit.
Today, we will be hosting leaders from Africa and the Global South in the BRICS-Africa Outreach and BRICS Plus Dialogue.
This is so that we can have an inclusive dialogue on key issues affecting developing economies and identify actions that we can take together towards a more equitable, inclusive and representative world.
May I conclude by thanking the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China, together with their delegations, for participating in this most successful 15th BRICS Summit held in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Through this Summit, BRICS has embarked on a new chapter in its effort to build a world that is fair, a world that is just, a world that is also inclusive and prosperous.
Few Americans alive today can recall much about what the world was like before the United States became the world’s superpower after the Second World War. It is easy for most of us to believe that somehow the conflict among the world superpowers continues to dominate global conversations. Alliances like BRICS – which pointedly don’t include the countries generally labeled “Western democracies” (Europe and the United States) – provide evidence to the contrary. We should not misunderstand this – it doesn’t mean that these democracies are irrelevant to the conversation. Quite the contrary. What this alliance (and others like it) demonstrates is that other developed and developing countries are trying to figure out how to navigate the increasingly linked global economy. Economic success for them will be the result of developing and then maintaining economic ties to the economic powerhouses while placating the stronger nations whose interests may not align with their own.
Terrific piece!
And I always learn something from you - well most of the time ;-) There is so much information now that it hard to keep up. I count on you to highlight things I should be paying more attention to.
Thanks!