It’s Time to Take the BRICS More Seriously

As longtime readers of this column and listeners of our podcasts may know, I’ve been quite critical of the BRICS in recent years. Beyond the creation of a mid-sized development finance bank, this is a group with few other accomplishments to boast about in its 15-year existence.

The fact that two of its founding members, India and China, can barely talk to one another suggests that the BRICS initiative will not produce big things.

Take the?fabled “BRICS currency,” hailed by many anti-Western critics. In reality, it would require India to surrender a fraction of its monetary sovereignty to China, which would be the largest backer of the new “BRICS Buck.” However, anti-China sentiment runs so high in Indian domestic politics at the moment that this concession is likely dead on arrival in New Delhi.

But the BRICS’ inability to take big strides may be a feature not a bug.

Foreign Ministers from the ten BRICS member states will be joined by their colleagues from nearly two dozen other developing countries for a two-day gathering in western Russia that gets underway on Monday.

But there’s a good chance you didn’t even know about this ministerial gathering because international media has completely overlooked it, and even social media is surprisingly quiet about it.

Out of sight, these foreign ministers will discuss the creation of a new non-Western-controlled payment system, AI standards, and trade harmonization, among other issues, in a setting where the concerns of developing countries weigh heavily.

Led by Russia, China, and Iran, they’re also going to complain… a lot. Anti-Western grievance is a foundational pillar of the BRICS group, and disaffection is becoming more pronounced in this time of war and Great Power rivalry.

But as Sunday’s EU parliamentary elections and the resurgence of Donald Trump in the U.S. clearly show, we live in an era defined by grievance politics, so it shouldn’t be a huge surprise that a growing number of developing countries are also channeling decades of pent-up anger through a group like the BRICS.

Ultimately, the BRICS shouldn’t be seen as a comprehensive alternative to the Western-led system because it isn’t. Instead, the bloc should serve as a powerful warning to elites in Washington, London, Paris, Brussels, and Tokyo that many people are fed up with the status quo and are joining together to do something about it….even if that happens a tiny step at a time.