{"id":1427,"date":"2023-09-09T17:51:09","date_gmt":"2023-09-09T14:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kaf1.org\/?page_id=1427"},"modified":"2023-09-09T17:51:09","modified_gmt":"2023-09-09T14:51:09","slug":"brics-expansion-is-aimed-at-upending-the-western-led-order","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/kaf1.org\/?page_id=1427","title":{"rendered":"BRICS\u2019 Expansion Is Aimed at Upending the Western-Led Order"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A group of five will soon be a concert of eleven. At last week\u2019s summit of the BRICS nations, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa agreed to invite Ethiopia, Argentina, Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates to officially join<\/a> the group on Jan. 1, 2024. The new BRICS, or what might be called BRICS+, will soon be comprised of nations with nearly five times the population and more than 20 percent greater economic output<\/a> than<\/a> the G7 grouping of wealthy industrialized nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some see the expanded BRICS as a \u201cnew alliance<\/a>\u201d that will soon \u201covertake\u201d Western-led institutions such as the G7 and NATO. Others lampooned the announcement, seeing BRICS as a \u201cfake<\/a>\u201d institution lacking a clear vision or coherence. Others were measured, acknowledging that while the group hasn\u2019t yet accomplished anything concrete, it carries great potential. For instance, Singapore-based geopolitical risk analyst Gokul Sahni remarked<\/a> that the enlarged BRICS \u201ccould possibly serve as a counterweight to the G7 in terms of scale,\u201d while Christopher Weafer, CEO of Macro-Advisory consultancy, said<\/a> BRICs \u201cis now starting to emerge\u201d as a viable bloc to counter western dominance in the global economy.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year\u2019s summit was significant for how it contrasted with the G7 meeting, which was held almost simultaneously. At last year\u2019s summit, the BRICS states began articulating a vision for a \u201cnew era<\/a>\u201d in economic development built around an alternative vision<\/a> for global governance, one that is more inclusive<\/a> and less Western-dominated. With this year\u2019s decision to expand, those words are now manifesting into action. Indeed, BRICS and its message seems to carry a certain appeal, as apparently as many as 40 nations<\/a> wish to join the bloc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be clear, BRICS, or whatever it will now be called, is far from being a unified group. It is not a formal international organization, as the grouping does not even have a functioning website<\/a>. Several of the nations, notably existing members China and India and new members Iran and Saudi Arabia, are and remain staunch geopolitical rivals, while others have profound economic challenges from debt and inflation<\/a> to slow growth<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given these facts, it is important not to overhype the BRICS expansion decision. But the expansion of BRICS to BRICS+ is still notable for three critical reasons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, it underscores continued dissatisfaction with the U.S.-led economic order. Upon entering office, U.S. President Joe Biden declared that \u201cAmerica is back<\/a>,\u201d ready to engage the world system fully after years of President Donald Trump taking a more belligerent approach<\/a>. But with their actions, from refusing<\/a> to fully comply with economic sanctions against Russia to opting for a new-type of non-alignment<\/a>, many nations throughout the Global South are demonstrating that they are uninterested in such overtures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The mere calls for a dollar alternative illustrate how the BRICS+ nations chafe at U.S. dominance of the economic order.<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Such dissatisfaction is most evident in calls<\/a> to move away from the dollar as a global reserve currency, and perhaps even create a new unified new currency, \u201cBRICS bucks<\/a>\u201d if you will. To be clear, such calls are nothing more than words at the moment. None of the current BRICS members, including China, seem willing to allow their financial markets to have the widespread openness required for their own currency to be a global means of settlement. Several members of the expanded BRICS grouping, such as Brazil and Saudi Arabia, would likely wish to retain access to the U.S. market, given strong economic ties. And consider that the key economic and financial initiative actually pursued by the BRICS, the New Development Bank, is essentially defunct<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But while the dollar\u2019s strong position in the global economy, including among the members of BRICs, is secure<\/a>, the mere calls for a dollar alternative illustrate how the BRICs+ nations chafe at U.S. dominance of the economic order. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second and related, BRICS expansion points to China\u2019s efforts to create an alternative world order, rather than seeking to work within the existing order. This expansion effort appears to have been spearheaded<\/a> by China, leading some to label the collection of nations the \u201cChina plus 10 group<\/a>.\u201d At the summit, Chinese President Xi Jingping issued a scathing rebuke<\/a> of the existing U.S.-led order. In a speech delivered on his behalf by China\u2019s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, Xi proclaimed<\/a> that the United States was \u201cobsessed with maintaining hegemony [and] has gone out of its way to cripple the emerging markets and developing countries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such words will inform debates<\/a> in Washington about whether China is seeking to overturn the U.S.-led order, or instead seeking to work within the institutions established and long-dominated by the United States. It is becoming increasingly clear that China is seeking to do the former, viewing the current system as rigged against it and developing countries. While Brazil\u2019s President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva tried to strike a more moderate<\/a> tone, saying the group\u2019s members are only trying \u201cto organize ourselves\u201d and have no desire to \u201cbe a counterpoint to the G7, G20, or the United States,\u201d BRICS\u2019 goal of countering the West was reiterated<\/a> by China\u2019s close ally, Russia\u2019s Vladmir Putin, in his virtual remarks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third, the BRICS expansion points to how nations are seeking to prepare for transitioning the global economy away from dependence on carbon. It cannot be denied that a defining feature of BRICS+ is that it is comprised of several major oil and gas producers<\/a>. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia are all major oil producers, while China and India are major oil consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, there already exists a well-known entity focused on coordinating the actions of these commodity producers, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC<\/a>, along with the broader grouping (which includes Russia) of OPEC+<\/a>. But OPEC and OPEC+ are made up of petroleum exporters. In contrast, BRICS+ brings together key oil producers and growing oil consumers in China and India. Having an organization in which consumers and producers can coordinate together makes sense given how the global economy will gradually move away from oil consumption. While the global economy and the members of BRICS+ are far from entering a post-carbon economic world, BRICS+ sets the foundation for coordinating needed adjustments as that future nears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As aptly described<\/a> by development sociologist Patrick Heller, BRICS is a \u201csort of anti-colonial reflex\u201d to the economic domination of Europe and the United States. The BRICS nations, both new and old, are taking seriously the idea of creating an alternative, non-Western economic order. Even if the grouping has not yet accomplished anything concrete, the message of dissatisfaction it sends to the United States and Western nations is deafening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul Poast is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago and a nonresident fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A group of five will soon be a concert of eleven. At last week\u2019s summit of the BRICS nations, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa agreed to invite Ethiopia, Argentina, Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates to officially join the group on Jan. 1, 2024. The new BRICS, or what might […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_regular_price":[],"currency_symbol":[],"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1427","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"post_slider_layout_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":"","post_slider_layout_landscape_large":"","post_slider_layout_portrait_large":"","post_slider_layout_square_large":"","post_slider_layout_landscape":"","post_slider_layout_portrait":"","post_slider_layout_square":"","full":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kaf1.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kaf1.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kaf1.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kaf1.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kaf1.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1427"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/kaf1.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1429,"href":"http:\/\/kaf1.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1427\/revisions\/1429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kaf1.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}