BRICS has evolved from an economic grouping into a geopolitical force, challenging the West’s dominance in global governance. With expanding membership and aspirations for a multipolar world, BRICS countries advocate for economic sovereignty and alternatives to Western-led institutions. However, internal differences, geopolitical rivalries and U.S. opposition pose significant hurdles. As the bloc gains traction, its ability to reshape global power structures remains a question of ambition versus practical execution.
By Ambassador Dr. Deepak Vohra, IFS(Retd)
For The News Analytics Journal
a 4 mins read.
The acronym is attractive – BRICS. The statistics are equally absorbing. BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) is a 25 (percentage of world exports), 35 (percentage of world area), 45 (percentage of global population), 65 (percentage of global GDP) organization. Its combined GDP of over USD 60 trillion exceeds that of G-7.
So many countries wish to join a group that expostulates an alternative equitable world order free of domination by a small group and rejects the Western narrative that the global ideological conflict is between democracies and autocracies and the former must win at all costs (the Bilderberg ideology to support free market Western capitalism and its interests around the world)
THE RISE OF BRICS
When the Second World War ended, the international political and financial architecture designed to be developed-dominant and developing-dependent rackets like the United Nations, IMF and World Bank were created to perpetuate this system. By the turn of the century, the developing nations, with a few exceptions, realized that they were still where they were when decolonization gave them political independence in the 1960s-1970s. They began to look for a new paradigm. Along came BRICS. It was meant to adumbrate a new distribution of global power, an alternative to the western-dominated Bretton Woods system, but, sadly, the differences between the BRICS nations far outweigh their commonalities.
And the new American President Donald Trump knows this. Many of the members, especially China, disagree on fundamental factors, such as transparency. Someone floated the idea of a BRICS currency to challenge the dollar (since the Euro has become an adjunct to the US money). Don’t you dare, fumed Trump, or I will obliterate your economies with 100% tariffs on your exports to America. Net result – the idea has been buried quietly. India has clarified that it is not challenging the dollar.
CAN BRICS STAY UNITED?
The main stated goals of BRICS are cooperation, development, and influence in international affairs through political coordination, social and cultural exchanges, technology and innovation, sustainable development, and peace and security Four of the five BRICS member nations are among the top ten economies in the world – China, India, Russia, Brazil – accounting for 40% of global GDP of USD 104 trillion (as against under a third for the G7 nations).
Following the 2024 inclusion of Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the UAE, in January 2025, when its President was the Chief Guest at India’s Republic Day parade, Indonesia became the first Southeast Asian nation to join the BRICS partnership. The membership of Southeast Asia’s largest resource-rich and most populous country (270 million) adds to the appeal of BRICS for developing nations as an alternative to Western-dominated global institutions. Yet Indonesia remains committed to equilibrium through multi-alignment, with a parallel application to the organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The narrative of BRICS as a champion of South-South cooperation is hazy, as China and Russia are hardly Global South countries.
Despite the economic potential, BRICS struggles with internal divisions. India and China remain at odds, and new members like Indonesia and Iran bring diverse, often conflicting, strategic priorities.
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE ON BRICS
While some countries want “in”, Argentina, an unabashed American acolyte, pro-US, pro-Israel, pro-Wall Street, anti-socialism, anti-China, anti-Russia and anti-Iran said thank you but no thank you. BRICS will not miss Argentina, but the withdrawal was a flashing red signal that Bueno Aires did not wish to get involved with what was being touted as an anti-Western movement. Argentina needs the support of the US, IMF, and Wall Street desperately for its President’s far-right neo-liberalistic policies to get Argentina out of its crisis. He cannot be on the wrong side by being in BRICS if it is seen to challenge the Western financial system.
Bill Clinton’s US Presidential campaign in the mid-1990s had a catchphrase: “It’s the economy, stupid”. The new fellow in the White House in 2025 might be a geopolitical arsonist but he is clear about restoring America to its pre-eminent global position – economically, diplomatically, militarily. He is angry at BRICS’s ambition to create a new BRICS currency for trading among members that may undermine the US dollar’s dominance of international trade. He has threatened a 100% tariff on BRICS members over such initiatives, making the realisation of the grouping’s currency unrealistic.
Any unified currency, backed by national currencies, oil or gold, would require global acceptance and economic stability, and aligning policies across diverse economies through unprecedented coordination and execution. The idea of a multipolar world economic order is seductive, especially for the 26 countries with about 1/3 of the world’s population facing US sanctions.
Despite envy, the world is aware of the power of the American dollar. During the two World Wars, the Allies paid for US supplies with gold, making the US. The largest holder of gold, and as of date two-thirds of allocated foreign bank reserves are denominated in U.S. dollars. The 1944 Bretton Woods conference agreed that the world’s currencies would be pegged to the U.S. dollar.
In 2019, when Turkey sought to mess around with America’s Kurdish friends in northeastern Syria, Donald Trump tweeted: “If Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will destroy and obliterate the economy of Turkey (I’ve done before!)”
And in January 2025, when Mexico and Colombia sought to hamper America’s efforts to expel their citizens illegally residing in the US, Trump’s imposition of huge sanctions shut them up faster than you can say “Trump”!
If more and more nations join the BRICS movement it might become a contender for global economic leadership instead of G7, but too many moving parts in a high-performance engine could make it sputter. Integrating diverse economies is never easy, especially when there is little bilateral political trust between several of its adherents. Despite the Europeanness of its members, the European Union is facing severe headwinds as their economies slow, with Brussels prescribing a one-pill cures-all panacea. Britain quit several years ago.
Is BRICS a challenge to G7 for control of the global marketplace? Not quite yet BRICS wants more say in the global political order and institutions such as the United Nations. Interestingly, only two BRICS members have permanent seats in the United Nations Security Council. One of them, China, is accused of subverting the UN system (including the IMF and World Bank) and blocking its reform. Two other BRICS members India and Brazil seek permanent UNSC seats, but little progress has been made owing to geopolitical considerations. Despite all the polite noises, none of the P-5 wants to allow others at the high table.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared the stage at the October 2024 BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The Masters of the Universe were upset. The presence of new BRICS members Iran, Egypt, the UAE, and Ethiopia upset them even more. All founder members were present except Brazil whose President claimed injury.
Turkiye is the only NATO member that has applied to join BRICS. The UN Secretary-General also showed up in Kazan, probably thinking that the UN was dying and BRICS was an alternative to the existing unequal exploitative international system. The Klown of Kyiv (aka Volodymyr Zelenskyy) went mad and almost threatened sanctions on the United Nations.
The U.S. and its allies view BRICS suspiciously, leveraging financial institutions and sanctions to curb its expansion. Washington’s economic coercion aims to prevent any challenge to dollar supremacy.
WHAT LIES AHEAD FOR BRICS?
Although BRICS is seen as the foremost geopolitical rival to the G7 bloc of advanced economies, implementing competing initiatives such as the New Development Bank, the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement, the BRICS Pay, the BRICS Joint Statistical Publication, and the BRICS basket reserve currency, nothing has challenged US economic dominance. Not too long ago, at least four BRICS members (India, Indonesia, Brazil, and South Africa) were referred to as the “fragile five” emerging markets, dependent on hot money flows. BRICS countries have indeed become key drivers of global economic growth, and unless there are strong headwinds, will continue to generate the largest share of global GDP growth in the future.
Turkiye, with one of the largest militaries in NATO, wants to join BRICS. It has dumped the European Union. Maverick European nation France officially sought an invitation to the 2023 BRICS Summit in South Africa. The G-7 rich nations are the Brahmins, with, so they believe, a God-given mandate to determine the destiny of our planet. But when the financial meltdown occurred in 2008, they called in the oil wallahs (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Brazil) and big economies (India, China) to form a club of Kshatriyas – the G 20 – to fix the world.
Realizing that the developed world needed them, the developing nations moved away from the shadow of the West and so BRICS was reinvigorated, becoming the revolutionaries for a more equitable international system. Can BRICS call Western arrogance to account? The jury is still out on that one.
(Ambassador Deepak Vohra, IFS (R) is a former Ambassador to Armenia, Sudan and Poland. He was also a special Advisor to the Government of South Sudan. The views expressed are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The News Analytics Journal.)
