By: Oliver Stuenkel
20 Sep 16
The BRICS group is thriving despite some recent economic turbulence. It offers members a shared policy platform and cross-continental connections
http://www.publicfinanceinternational.org/opinion/2016/09/brics-survivor
Few things captured the spirit of global affairs in the first decade of the 21st century better than the BRICs concept, an investment category invented by Goldman Sachs’ Jim O’Neill in 2001. Emerging powers in the global south were starting to catch up, while the US and Europe were mired in the deepest economic crisis in decades. In 2009, the governments of Brazil, Russia, India and China started holding annual high-level summits, invited South Africa, and sought to institutionalise the BRICS (now with a capital S). The then Russian president Dmitry Medvedev called Yekaterinburg, where the summit took place, “the new epicenter of world politics.”
A few years later, though, the BRICS seemed to have lost their lustre. By 2014, emerging markets experienced massive capital outflow amid low commodity prices hurting growth in Russia and Brazil, political deadlock in South Africa and Brazil, and stock market turmoil in China. Many believed the BRICS idea had lost its usefulness – now that members were in trouble, was there a point in them jointly discussing the future global order?
Yet, to the surprise of many, the BRICS not only continued to exist but also started a process of institutionalisation, leading to regular ministerial meetings in areas such as education, health and national security, frequent encounters between presidents and foreign ministers and – perhaps most importantly – the creation of the BRICS-led New Development Bank (NDB), headquartered in Beijing, and the contingent reserve agreement, a financial safety net for times of financial crisis. The BRICS summit is now a major pillar of the yearly travel schedule of the nations’ presidents, irrespective of ideology. How can we explain this?
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Read also:
For the first time with Temer, BRICS leaders meet in Hangzhou
Emerging Powers and BRICS (Oxford Bibliographies)
The BRICS: Seeking Privileges by Constructing and Running Multilateral Institutions
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