MAHARASHTRA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY, MUMBAI

PROJECT SUBMISSION TOWARDS FULFILMENT OF THE

ASSESSMENT IN THE SUBJECT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE III
SEMESTER III
SYNOPSIS

TOPIC: BRICS

Submitted To: Prof. Varada Sambhus (course instructor)

Submitted By: Sakshi Salunke

Enrolment Number: 2017043

Date of Submission: 4th August 2018

Introduction

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) are leading emerging economies and
political powers at the regional and international level. In 2001, the acronym was originally
coined to underline the exceptional role of important emerging economies which only included
Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC). It was further pointed out that high growth rates,
economic potential and demographic development were going to put BRIC in a lead position
and it was argued that their increased relevance should also be reflected in their incorporation
to the G7. The four countries themselves started to meet as a group in 2006 and it was only in
2010 that South Africa was invited to join the group, which was then referred to as BRICS.
While not openly stated, one of the major goals of the BRICS countries is to create an alternate
dominating power to the primarily Western-dominated (primarily the United States)
international landscape. It should be noted that two of the powerful critics of the Western
power: China and Russia are part of the BRICS conglomeration. Following the first official
summit in Yekaterinburg the then BRIC countries announced the need for a new global reserve
currency counter to the US dollar, which would be more “diversified, predictable, and stable”.
This ambition was furthered in the two most recent summits in Durban, South Africa and
Fortaleza, Brazil where the BRICS countries announced the plans and then signed the
ratification documents to begin the launch of the New Development Bank as well as a reserve
currency pool worth more than $100 billion. Since BRICS occupy 1/3 population in the world,
the demand for resources has surged and have the potentiality to capture and dominate the
power that it must play in the international politics. Again, while not openly stated many see
this bank as the creation of a direct competitor to the traditionally American and British
dominated World Bank and IMF. If successful, the New Development Bank would mark an
important shift away from the traditionally Western dominated banking and loaning system.
Countries would have the option to accept loans from the New Development Bank instead of
the World Bank/IMF, which have been heavily criticized for being tools of spreading Western
domination and perpetuating the cycle of poverty and oppression of the Global South.1

Due to their geographic and demographic dimensions, BRICS economies are severely
influencing global development, especially in Low Income Countries (LIC). In the current
financial crisis, they are promoting stability in trade and investment and cushioning global

1
recession. On the other hand, BRICS lower growth in 2009 has caused a considerable problem
in foreign trade performance of LICs in the same period. The BRIC thesis posits that China
and India will become the world’s dominant suppliers of manufactured goods and services,
respectively, while Brazil and Russia will become similarly dominant as suppliers of raw
materials. Its crucial to note that the Goldman Sachs thesis isn’t that these countries are a
political alliance (like the European Union) or a formal trading association-but they have the
potential to form a powerful economic bloc. BRIC is now also used as a more generic
marketing term to refer to these four emerging economies. Due to lower labour and production
costs, many companies also cite BRIC as a source of foreign expansion opportunity.

LICs being the most vulnerable countries, and more than one billion of the world’s 1.4 billion
poor people living on less than 1.25 US-Dollar (USD) per day are living in LICs. In terms of
external shocks, volatility in commodity prices and rising food costs, LICs are very fragile.

Analysing the BRICS’ summits it can be noted a cooperative disposition in the group at the
same time there is a declared interest of restricting IOs already consolidated in the IS such as
the United Nations (UN), the World Bank, the World Trade Organization (WTO), inter alia; as
well as global decision-making forums such the G8. Both economic and demographic weight
of the BRICS’ countries make it a relevant actor in the IS4 so, to comprehend the current
international political scenario, studying it is very important. The focus is a political analysis
of the BRICS under an academic perspective, thus the constructive theory of IR serves as a
theoretical support.

BRICS are causing changes in the architecture of international development co-operation about
trade and financial flows and emerging donors. However, the rise of these countries does not
come without criticism. Economic experts like Professor Patrick Bond at the South African
University of KwaZulu Natal argue that despite their cries for a world order that is not
dominated by Western imperialism the BRICS’ policies and practices lean towards sub-
imperialism through economic and resource exploitation. The road to the rise of new global
powers is not without its bumps. Fully understanding both the good and bad of the BRICS
countries will be crucial to understanding the potential new leaders of the international system.
Over the next six weeks I’ll be exploring the good, the bad, and the ugly of the BRICS countries
including the rise and potential of the New Development Bank, the rise of the BRICS as a new
powerhouse to the Western world, their sub-imperialist tendencies, and looking at the future
with the rise of their sisters the MINT (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey) countries. 2

Research Questions
1. How BRICS are influencing the development of LICs and what the economic
interdependencies look like?
2. How BRICS are targeting development policies and as to what extent BRICS have
similar interests and are following a common approach?
3. To what extent do the BRICS countries prioritize the BRICS group in their foreign
policy?
4. What is the main defined aim of the BRICS group when there are serious differences
in their respective national interest, regional orientation, security concern and foreign
policy priority?
5. To what extent does the BRICS group contribute to shaping the global order and
global governance, and to what extent does the reality correspond to its ambitions in
this regard?

Hypothesis
Adding the insight from the past evidence, leading perception and knowledge from cooperation
theory together with my research questions that ask what keeps the BRICS from robustly
cooperating, suggests three hypotheses worth analysing. First, if mutual interests are absent,
cooperation will never materialize. A potential explanation is therefore that the BRICS struggle
to cooperate because of lack of compatible interests. The prime or goal of BRICS is to generate
a pace greater than the western part and achieve sustainability, empowerment, productivity and
eliminate terrorism and create harmony. Recently, it has also come up with the concept of
fourth industrial revolution which will not only expedite its economic development but will
also attain human development. These BRICS nations on international forum has gained
support and encouragement all over the world.

2
https://www.ft.com/content/
Objectives

• To cooperate between the member nations for development, provide financial

assistance, support various projects, infrastructure etc.
•

Methodology
In this project, the researcher will mainly be focusing on the secondary sources like books,
editorials, authorities, newspapers. The main way to find information on it will be with the use
of internet for a proper and extensive research which will include short videos, some very old
news articles of that time, some interviews and all the other information relevant to the project
at a global level.

Bibliography

• http://infobrics.org/page/history-of-brics/
• https://www.en.cgs.aau.dk/research/conferences/emerging-power
• http://thebricspost.com/
• https://www.dailyo.in/politics/why-brics-2018-is-so-significant-for-prime-minister-
narendra-modi/story/1/25760.html
• https://www.thedailyvox.co.za/geopolitricks-theres-nothing-radical-about-president-
jacob-zuma-or-brics-mohammed-jameel-abdulla/
• https://www.ft.com/content/112ca932-00ab-11df-ae8d-00144feabdc0