The fundamental question which most geopolitical analysts frequently ask themselves is whether the new organization,BRICS, will eventually change the power dynamics and dislodge western hegemony from its comfortable throne and usher in a new era of multilateralism which is so much desired by the countries of the global South. This is apparently the chief goal of BRICS as outlined by the foreign ministers of BRICS countries during the BRICS foreign ministers meeting held in Cape town, South Africa in June of 2023. However hard the western countries who are predominantly led by the US try to downplay the BRICS issue, the incontrovertible reality is that they are rattled and seem to have no response whatsoever. The sheer large number of new countries aspiring to join this new body is not a welcome news to the powers that be. The five countries of BRICS already surpass the G7 in terms of GDP and population. BRICS population is 3.24 billion people, about 40% of world population while its GDP is about 31.5% of global GDP. The admission of new members might just be enough to usher in a new era and do away with unilateralism of the western powers.
To put it into some context, BRICS is an organization which was created in 2009 by five countries comprising of Brazil, Russia, Indian, China and South Africa. Its official and major objectives are to uplift and strengthen sustainability, security, development, peace and collaboration but it appears the organization has assumed other objectives unofficially like dedollarization. More and more countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan, Bangladesh,Venezuela, Thailand, Uruguay,Mexico among others are already embracing BRICS and actively seeking membership in the organization. Most of these countries were already fed up with the way western countries like US carried out themselves on the international stage. Some of them accuse US and it’s allies of bullying through military by use of NATO like in Libya and financial coercion through Western-backed financial institutions like the World Bank and the IMF. The infamous carrot and stick method. Stick for those countries which Apparently don’t want to fall in line. Apparently,US foreign policy interfered in many countries against their will. This kind of sustained interference in other countries which obviously seemed like a good idea when the US had unchecked power, now summarily appear ill-advised since it is these same countries which want to get away from the collective West as soon as possible and as far away as they can. Of course they will flock to BRICS which appears to be an anti-West coalition.
The war in Ukraine has openly shown US weaknesses and achieved on the overall the opposite of what was expected. While much needed financial support has been given to Ukraine, they are still not able to take back 15% of their territory in the east currently being occupied by the Russians. Western weapons which have always been considered to be superior could not do much either. This has emboldened US enemies who now feels that the US just like other powers can be beaten and outmatched. Some America’s allies have also started to doubt the ability of the US to defend them against enemies. The ending of the war in Ukraine will really have a lasting impact on the losing side. The rhetoric has changed and open defiance to the US has become normal. Most countries in the global south have also not sanctioned and cut ties with Russia as would have been expected citing double- standards from the West. This is an open defiance against the West from the third world countries. While some countries like Iran and South Africa have been accused of supplying weapons to Russia,there are others who have also been accused of helping Russia to successfully circumvent the sanctions. Secluded events such as the welcoming back of Syria to the Arab league and rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia undermine the power and leadership of the US while at the same time strengthening China and BRICS in general. Syria,Iran and Saudi Arabia have all shown interest in joining BRICS.
However, this shift of power from the West to BRICS has also been severely overexaggerated. For sure this mighty power will not go down without a fight and predictions are in the case of a physical war it will be messy. Big western powers like the US, United kingdom and France have powerful weapons in their arsenal including nuclear weapons. Dedollarization will obviously be protracted and might even be unsuccessful in the long run considering the intricacies involved in coming up with a reserve currency and the complex issues between individual member countries. Just recently, Russia and India suspended transactions in their own currencies and India appears not to support the idea of a common currency. Joining BRICS will be a contentious issue for some countries which are enemies like Pakistan and India- India fortunately is already a member. Of course some countries will always be interested in destroying organizations with such magnitude. Lastly, organizations like BRICS have always been there before and they didn’t have much of an impact on the global stage. However, the West should be very alarmed; it might be the beginning of the end.
Anonymous 