With the BRICS summit just a month away, the bloc is setting its sight on the important gathering. There, the bloc will confront ideas of expansion and its own trade currency in what could be instrumental in its hopeful ascension. Yet, with those massive developments just on the horizon, BRICS is facing its newest challenges at an incredibly vital moment.
Aside from the ongoing issues in Russia, and Ukraine, BRICS is beginning to confront undoubted discrepancies in its very construction. Specifically, the bloc is facing both the difficulty of unity in a multi-pronged system and the establishment of the global order within existing mechanisms. All have proved to be vitally important, but also incredibly difficult.
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BRICS Challenge of Unity and the Duality of Purpose
The BRICS bloc, consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, was birthed out of one deep desire: to diminish the overwhelming power of the West. Since the fallout of World War II and the Bretton Woods agreement, the US has had a stronghold on global power.
Therefore, these nations were brought together by this same inherent desire. Indeed, it can easily be seen in the earliest actions taken by the bloc. Specifically, de-dollarization has been at the center of its dealings for the past several months.
Yet, that desire to weed out Western involvement in the actions of the global south has also come with a secondary desire; to empower that very global south. Those dual goals of the bloc have been evident in recent weeks. The alliance is constructed to both combat the Western dominance of global politics, and present a situation for developing countries to receive the necessary aid to progress.
However, with these two ideas comes tremendous difficulty. Subsequently, it has presented the BRICS bloc with the newest challenges in its dual purpose at what is undoubtedly a vital time. There have been consistent questions of unity within the bloc, and those continue to extend.
The necessity for nations like China and Russia to shoulder the majority of economic responsibility will no doubt become burdensome soon. Yet, that majority influence is not just important; it’s necessary. Indeed, without that, the alternative BRICS currency may well be hindered on arrival.
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Subsequently, nations like Russia have also been struggling with their own developments. A mutiny and South Africa’s failed attempt to broker peace within Ukraine have dominated headlines. Moreover, those headlines have all interacted with the upcoming BRICS summit. Indeed, creating an illustrative representation of these challenges with countries seeking entry while others navigate terrible developments.
Radical Change In an Established Order
BRICS has made it clear that it hopes to establish a multipolar world. Yet, those hopes have also come with an emphasis on aid for the development of the Global South. Thus, it is seeking to do what is proving to be extremely difficult. Specifically, creating a unified and alternative global system through an already established order.
When the West rose to prominence, it relied heavily on the impact of World War II. Then, it was able to position the US dollar to greatly benefit from its position. Conversley, BRICS is attempting to now compete with the decades of benefits from that reality through global systems that are already in place.
Within that, BRICS has attempted to answer the systems established by the West. It has created the New Development Bank to answer the IMF and World Bank, and it is seeking to position itself as a G7 counterpart. Yet, doing so with these systems will be incredibly difficult—to create a beneficial system for countries with different interests and economic footprints amidst a world still positioned to support the dominance of the West.
The Vitality of the BRICS Summit
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The BRICS bloc is undoubtedly facing its newest challenges at what is undoubtedly a vital moment. However, the West is experiencing its largest decline. Nevertheless, it has created an opportunity for the bloc to capitalize. Leaving the importance of the BRICS summit even more so.
The alliance is set to gather to discuss expansion and a common currency. These ideas are important and have potential, but they will also face extensive challenges of their own. Ultimately, they could aid the multipolar goal of the bloc, but they may also be impossible to execute where they have extensive potential. Only time will tell, but the bloc is currently in the midst of what may be its greatest challenge when the real work begins.