BRICS EMERGING AS A COUNTER TO UNIPOLARITY

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1 KAAV INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ARTS, HUMANITIES & SOCIAL SCIENCES A REFEREED BLIND PEER REVIEW QUARTERLY JOURNAL KIJAHS/JUL-SEP2017/VOL-4/ISS-3/A12 PAGE NO ISSN: IMPACT FACTOR (2017) BRICS EMERGING AS A COUNTER TO UNIPOLARITY 1 ANAMIKA 1 Research Scholar, Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Introduction The collapse of the Soviet Union changed the world scenario. It led the verge of economic breakdown and the absence of the protection of the bipolar strengthened the hands of global financial institutions which were under the control of USA.These institutions has been and remain to unrepresentative of the developing world. The Yekaterinburg conference in which Russia, Brazil, India, and china participated at the sidelines of SCO meeting is an attempt towards attaining a multipolar world. But they were localized in their aims and interests or were narrow in their world view that it could not attract the world opinion and created a critical situation. These circumstances made the US an indispensable superpower. The onslaught of neo-liberal regime and the general meltdown of economics and loss of jobs have forced the leaders to think of an alternative financial system and more equitable, democratic, multilateral and just world order. After 2008 economic crisis, new multilateral clubs have emerged and are demanding greater influence in existing world order. This group of countries that challenge the existing global governance architecture and demanding the change in existing system. These nations are Fastest growing economies like Russia India China and Brazil and South Africa are giving the notion that they can question the unipolarity. Together these nations have been given name of BRICS nations. BRIC the world coined by Jim O Neill research director for investment bank Goldman Sachs. BRIC started in 2009 as a quadrangular organization, joined South Africa in the year 2011 and was changed to BRICS. BRICS start with challenge unipolarity and international financial institution like IMF and World Bank. Multilateral has been become the main agenda and it sought in all spheres like political, economic, cultural and climate change. There are many advantages if BRICs nations are together. BRICs countries populations and the sum of their GDPs makes more than one quarter of the world s GDP. Their aim is close cooperation between economies. And these nations are capable of building an alternative to Brettonwood institutions. BRICs countries are stand united against divisive counter moves of the west. Truly BRICS will have to be built bric by bric. Emergence of BRICS In November 2001, the analyst of Goldman Sachs, Jim O'Neill created the term BRIC for the group of four leading emerging markets with high potential. Those being the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Russian Federation, the Republic of India and the People s Republic of China. In February 2011, this group was expanded with the inclusion of the Republic of South Africa, and BRIC renamed BRICS. According to predictions of Goldman Sachs, in the near future the world economy and stock markets will depend on the economic growth of this particular group of countries. And he also stated that by 2050 the total size of the economy of the BRICS countries will exceed the total size of the economy of the G-7 countries. Such predictions seem quite justified, given the fact that the BRICS countries possess considerable amount of resources. Such as, China is a source of cheap manpower, both Russia and South Africa have large supplies of natural resources, Brazil s agricultural industry is highly developed, while India possesses cheap intellectual resources (Jagannath 2012). 64

2 The first ministerial meeting in the format of BRIC took place in 2006 under the initiative of Russia. This meeting marked the beginning of a series of high-level meetings and revealed the presence of general political interests. A year later it became possible to talk about an institutional formation of the group and BRIC started in 2009 as a quadrangular organization. After the inclusion of South Africa it increases its value. Today BRICS is not just a group of countries with considerable economic potential but it also has a number of general political interests that allow the BRICS-members to pursue coordinated policies and to play the role of a powerful actor in the international arena. Together the BRICS-members occupy 26% of the world s territory, the BRICS s combined population represents almost a half of the world s total population 42%, while the BRICS s combined nominal GDP accounts for 14.6 % of the world s indicator. It is necessary to highlight that these countries take prominent positions in economic, social and political ratings, for example: China, Brazil and India take 2nd, 7th and 10th positions respectively in the ratings of countries with the highest GDP, China, Russia and India take 1st, 3rd and 6th positions respectively in the ratings of countries with the greatest stock of gold and exchange currency reserves, China is 5th among the most investmentattractive countries in the world, while Brazil is 11 th. In recent years, the BRIC countries have started to lead the developing countries in addressing the dissatisfactions with the current world order by seeking changes in the economics, politics, and military security realms. Because the BRICS nations are taking the lead in bridging the socio-economic disparity between the developing and developed countries and playing a larger role as responsible stakeholders the United States needs to recognize their significant contribution to the global community and accord them a representative voice in reshaping the world order (Jagannath, 2012). BRICS emerging as a counter to Unipolarity- It is necessary to point out that the BRICS-members share the same views concerning several key aspects of the functioning of the present political and business systems and ways of their reformation, these countries unanimously confirm their devotion to the United Nations and support the idea of the restoration of the UN taking up a regulating role in the world. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa propose to change the international financial system through different mechanisms, including diversification of the world basket of reserve currencies, revision of the basic principles of world trade and through finding solutions to the problem of food safety and BRICS-members also continue to promote the policy of the minimum intervention in internal affairs of other states, and also express their concerns about the problems of energy security and the deterioration of the environment. April 2010 BRICS summit, BRICS stated that world is going major and swift changes that are the need for transformations in global governance in all relevant areas. They also supported multipolar, equitable and democratic world order, based on international law, equality, mutual respect, cooperation, coordinated action and collective decision-making of all States. This shows that they seek a multipolar world order that is more representative and equitable. In the same summit BRICS countries expressed their shared commitment in the areas of global governance, international economics and finance, international trade, development, agriculture, fighting against poverty, energy, climate change, terrorism, culture, religion, and cooperation. The BRICS emphasized that they believe the deepened and broadened dialogue and cooperation of the BRICS countries is conducive not only to serving common interests of emerging market economies and developing countries, but also to building a harmonious world of lasting peace and common prosperity. The wide scope of their commitment suggests that the BRICS nations intend to reshape the world order by addressing dissatisfactions with the current world order in the economics, politics, and military security realms. There are three areas in which BRICS nations are playing important role for countering the United States hegemony and established itself as the game changer of the world order. These areas- Economics Politics Security Economics- bridging the gap between developing and developed countries The main dissatisfaction developing countries have with the current economic world order is that international economic and financial policies are dictated largely by the United States and the other G-7 countries and decision-making power in the hands of developed countries while the economic interests of developing 65

3 countries are inadequately represented. G-20 is only forum which represent developing countries interest at international forums. For more representation by developing countries on the global stage, the BRIC countries stated their strong support for the role of the G-20 as the premier forum for international economic coordination and cooperation of all its member states. BRICs countries stressed that sustainable development models and paths of developing countries should be fully respected and necessary policy space of developing countries should be guaranteed. Because of the growing economic weight of the BRIC economies, the G-20 will likely replace the G-7 as the preferred platform for international economic decision making (Julia, 2013). This is a fundamental change in the economic world order. The gap between the developing and developed countries is dissatisfactions with the current world order. BRICS nations are devoted to establish a more equitable, justifiable and democratic world order. BRICs countries called upon the global community to make all the necessary effort for fulfill the gap between north and south. International trade is also important factors which divided the north and south nations. The lack of agreement between developing and developed countries in Doha negotiations leading the disparities between north and south. BRICs playing the leading role in arbitrating and negotiating Doha policies and creating opportunities to bridge the socio economic disparity. For promoting economic growth, brics countries promoting intra BRICS and other regional initiatives through trade liberalization. BRICS countries exploring trade in the local currency, which is emerge one of the most important threat Currency battles emerging from the BRICS and the threat to the universal reserve currency indicates the potential of the BRICS to shift the global financial system dominated by the US dollar. At the 2012 BRICS summit the partners called for intra-brics trade in non-third currency. The Chinese Reserve Bank has also called for a new reserve currency as opposed to the dollar. The dollar s potential displacement shows us a battle for a new world order-taking place today. For enhancing the development and corporation, BRICS nations established the BRICS Bank. The BRICS Bank is a proposed development bank of the BRICS nations. Its establishment was agreed to by BRICS leaders at the 2013 BRICS summit held in Durban, South Africa on 27 March Its goals is to provide funding for infrastructure projects, and create a Contingent Reserve Arrangement worth $100 billion which will help member countries counteract future financial shocks. Establishment of BRICS Bank is the rival the dominance of the World Bank and the IMF (Jim, 2001). Political- strengthening representation in international governance For equitable world order, it is needed equal participation and voice in international governance. The main dissatisfaction of developing countries with the existing international political governance is the disproportionate voting weight given to develop countries at multilateral institutions such as the IMF, the World Bank and the United Nations sometimes these institutions work under the control of US. For example Iraq issue where United Nations lost its legitimacy. BRICS countries are demanding for reform in the international institutions such as IMF, WB, and UN. In the case of China we can see the unequal distribution of decision making power and its voting rights in the IMF and the World Bank are less than France and Britain, even though the Chinese economy is larger. Under pressure of BRICS-members and G-20, which promotes the establishment of a more democratic system of supervision of the global economy and the finance system and due to the joint efforts of these countries at the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh (September 2009), in Toronto (June 2010) and in Seoul (November 2010) it became possible to take the decision on the redistribution of the 5% voices at the International Monetary Fund and 3% voices at the World Bank in favor of the developing states. As a result, the share of the emerging markets along with the developing countries in the World Bank has increased from % to %, whereas their share in the IMF has grown from 39.5 % to %. Moreover, China, Russia, Brazil and India turned out to be among the top-ten shareholders of IMF.The change in voting power at the institutional level indicates a gradual shift in political power in international governance from developed countries to developing countries (Jim 2001). BRICS nations also demanding for reforms in UN existing structure. So that it can deal with today s global challenges more effectively. A possible approach to reform the UN, according to Peter Singer is to reconstitute the Security Council by enlarging the permanent membership of the Security Council to make it more representative of the world s population and to replace the veto power with a special majority of the reconstituted council. He justifies that, in future it is hard to see that giving special privileges to a small group of states will be the best way to maintain either the authority of the United Nations or world peace. 66

4 Security world security with peaceful world order Another important fact about the BRICS-members is their valuable contribution to the strengthening of world security. The countries in this group are convinced the formations of the multipolar, just and democratic world order are a necessity. States-participants of BRICS also share a commitment to the principle of the peaceful settlement of disputes through political and diplomatic methods, instead of military force. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa show strong cooperation during the sessions of the United Nations, in particular, in the work of the Security Council. Such cooperation of the countries we can see the common stand in the Security Council on the issue of Sudan and Libya where these countries rejected the use of force. BRICS nations are also contributing in peacekeeping effort. Currently, China contributes more than personal mission in Sudan.India also plays a significant role in the peacekeeping mission. Besides peace keeping mission Russia, India, china, also contributes to counter piracy operations in the gulf of Adan. There is a fair amount of military security contributions from the BRIC nations in countering global threats. Their involvements in the UNMIS and the Gulf of Aden indicate their willingness to contribute as responsible stakeholders. With the anticipated economic growth and planned military modernization programs, the BRIC countries will be better equipped to lead and respond to global threats. In addition, with stronger mutual confidence among the BRIC nations and higher levels of interoperability with other partners, their military forces will be able to contribute a larger role in enhancing the security of the global environment. It must be noted that by virtue of its geography, Brazil faces a different regional security environment compared to the RIC countries. Hence, RIC nations are likely to be more involved in trilateral cooperation on security issues. This, however, does not preclude Brazil s potential contributions to enhancing global security. It does somewhat indicate that Brazil s aims within the BRIC group are focused on economic and political objectives, while letting the RIC countries confront their own regional security issues (Marcos, 2010). Future possibilities of BRICS BRICS represents a decline of the US and the space to do something different in the world because no new power is replacing the US as the imperial hegemony. Here few of the argument which can be significant in coming years. Main aim of BRICs countries to expand their influence in existing global order. China is the most influential country within the BRICs countries. In future it is possible that there will be two dominants powers -China and United States. BRICS policymakers are eager to enhance their global influence by discovering common preferences that they can join forces to pursue. the BRICS principle collective goal thus far has been the creation of greater on going global influence for themselves, instead of dismissing the BRICS as trivial for their limited achievements thus far,it makes more sense to conceptualize them as in the process of building capacity, adjusting to China s looming presence within the club itself, and working through common positions (Fabiano, 2013). It remains to be seen whether the BRICS in the future will coordinate to tackle important global issue. Global governance will turn on reforms and evolutions, all emerging powers have aim with respect to reordering the international system. In future they can develop a radically new alternatives model for international order. China will emerge as prominent country of BRICS.China s arrival as a great power is likely to create policy contradictions as it strains old loyalties and diplomatic commitments. According to Goldman Sachs BRICS can be extended to include other emerging nations like Mexico, Indonesia, and South Korea etc. Mexico and South Korea are currently the world's 13th and 15th largest by nominal GDP just behind the BRICS and G7 economies. Both are experiencing rapid GDP growth of 5% every year. In coming years BRICS can be BRIMCK. Jim O'Neil recently created the term MIKT that stands for Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, and Turkey. Conclusion Today, the BRICS dialogue forum is a reflection of the network multi-vector diplomacy. It is a real step on the way of formation of a multipolar world. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa possess great stock of resources. They have huge potential and a desire to change world order. The coordinated policy on a 67

5 number of the basic questions that represent the vital interests of each separate country of the group allows the BRICS-members to act as a united front and to achieve their purposes. However, BRICS is not an institutionally structured organization, so it is quite possible that the cooperation between the countries can only last for a short period of time. I am leaving with the main question is whether the BRICS-members can overcome their internal contradictions and become a real power in the international arena. References Panda P Jagannath (2012), A BRICs Wall? The Complexity of China-India Multilateral Politics, Indian Foreign Affairs Journal, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp, Edelman S Eric (2010), Understanding America s Contested Primacy, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. Galvao, Marcos (2010), Brazil, Russia, India and China: Brand BRIC Brings change, The World Today, Vol. 66, no. 8/9 (August/September 2010), pp The BRICs summit 2013: key asks and priorities, Oxfam India policy belief, No. 6, July Panda P Jagannath (2013), BRICs and the China-India Construct A New World Order in Making? IDSA Monograph Series, No. 24 September Mielniczuk Fabiano (2013), BRICs in the Contemporary World: changing identities, converging interests, Third World Quarterly, 25 Jul Pant V Harsh (2013), The BRICS Fallacy, the Washington Quarterly, 36:3 pp O'Neill, Jim. "Building Better Global Economic BRICs." Goldman Sachs, November 30, Dailami, Mansoor, and Paul Masson (2010). "Toward a More Managed International Monetary System." International Journal 65(2): Kulik, Julia (2013). Reducing the Economic Burden of Non-communicable Diseases in the BRICS: Lessons from Brazil." BRICS Research Group, January 25, O'Neill, Jim (2001). "Building Better Global Economic BRICS," Global Economics,Paper No. 6, November 30. One of the original papers coining the term "BRIC." Cooper, Andrew F., and Ramesh Thakur (2012). The Group of Twenty (G20). Oxford: Routledge. Cooper, Andrew F. (2014). "The G20 and Contested Global Governance: BRICS, Middle Powers and Small States," Caribbean Journal of International Relations & Diplomacy 2(3): pp S and the World Order Beginner s Guide 68