There is extensive discussion about the G7 and NATO summits, but less about the meeting of the BRICS countries. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa exchange ideas every year, most recently a few days ago. About a cooperation that the West should watch closely.
The Russian leadership has long been pursuing the goal of a multipolar global order. Powerful counterpoles are to be set against the USA’s crumbling claim to hegemony.
One format intended to serve this goal is the BRICS – the five states of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. These long-standing emerging economies have been holding annual meetings since 2009 — most recently under China’s chairmanship a few days ago, albeit only as a videoconference.
3.21 billion people live in the BRICS countries; that is 42.5 percent of the world population. The joint gross domestic product, measured in purchasing power parities, makes up 32 percent of global value added. This underlines the relevance of this format.
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At the last BRICS conference, state leaders once again emphasized respect for the sovereignty of states as a core task. The interference in internal affairs is loudly rejected by all.
Yet Russia in particular is showing that it claims full sovereignty for itself, but is constantly undermining the sovereignty of its neighbors; moreover, wants to completely erase Ukraine’s statehood through a violent attack.
The BRICS have repeatedly committed themselves to reforming the United Nations Security Council (SR). The Security Council is no longer representative of the global distribution of power; additional states are to become permanent members with veto rights.
Within the framework of the BRICS, these are, of course, India, Brazil and South Africa. But the reality is different in this respect, too. China is categorically opposed to upgrading India with a permanent seat in the SR. Another internal contradiction of this informal alliance.
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The BRICS also repeatedly call for all states to cooperate in protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms – with the notable addition that this would be done on the basis of equality and mutual respect.
Ultimately, this means that these five states want to undermine the universality of human rights. National traditions and values, i.e. reservations, should be taken into account when implementing human rights. Respect for numerous basic human freedoms is particularly low in Russia and China.
Ultimately, the BRICS are ultimately also concerned with economic cooperation. Trade between these five countries has expanded significantly in recent years. With the BRICS Development Bank, this format also has a financial instrument to promote infrastructure projects in the member states.
Nevertheless, some of the BRICS members are currently economically ailing: Russia is slipping into a deep recession this year, China’s growth is unfortunately under the corona pandemic.
At its core, the BRICS are a format of loose political and economic cooperation, but not an alliance. There are significant differences between the BRICS countries. This applies above all to the open territorial conflict between China and India.
India sees itself threatened by the military rise of China. Therefore, India, which has good and close relations with Russia, has no interest in turning the BRICS into an anti-Western instrument.
India has increasingly opened up to the US over the past 15 years and has also been a member of the Quadrilateral Dialogue, called QUAD, since 2017. It’s a loose security agreement between the US, Australia, Japan and, of course, India. The QUAD is clearly aimed against China. For this reason, India’s membership in the BRICS should be viewed very cautiously.
Interested in ending US hegemony in international politics, Russia and China are using the BRICS as one of several tools to achieve this goal. The format is certainly not the most important and decisive tool. The cooperation of the BRICS countries must be closely monitored by the West; But the West need not fear this.
Gerhard Mangott is a professor of political science with a special focus on international relations and security in the post-Soviet space. He teaches at the Institute for Political Science in Innsbruck and is a lecturer at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna
