The discourse on the geopolitical and geoeconomic significance of BRICS has been polarised since Brazil, Russia, India and China met for the first time in 2009. One school of thought has treated the emergence of the BRICS forum as a reflection of a new, multi-polar world order; a result of the shift in economic and political power from the ‘global north’ to the ‘global south’. The opposing school of thought has dismissed the forum as a clunky cobbling of misfits with varying geopolitical ambitions and countervailing economic strengths: a Goldman Sachs marketing gimmick taken too far.
Both perspectives make for easy summarisation. But neither is useful for policy-makers or foreign policy analysts because the generalisations overlook the multi-layered, multi-dimensional engagement of the BRICS countries with each other and with the rest of the word.
Oliver Stuenkel’s book, The BRICS and the future of global order, plugs this gap. He is a scholar of international relations and has been contributing to the BRICS discourse for many years. The book provides a well-researched account of the evolution – starting from the forum’s inception in 2009 to the present – and the interactions between Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa on global issues.
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