In 2001, British economist Jim O’Neil coined an acronym that quickly became popular around the world: BRICS. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are the five countries mentioned. These nations do not form an institution like the European Union or similar ones, but represent a bloc of emerging countries, which together constitute an alternative to Europe and the United States.
In fact, in recent years, the possibility of creating a BRICS bank to deal with future financial crises has been addressed. In 2009, Russia held the first summit among the five representative countries. Its bases form a strategic alliance similar to others, such as UNASUR or the European Union itself.
What features are common in these countries?
In the first place , are countries that in recent years significantly increased its GDP. Second, they all have a high population . In relation to the system currency, the BRICS agree with the need of the dollar have less weight in the financial International. On the other hand, despite their apparent growth in economic terms, they have notable social inequalities and a series of deficiencies in terms of human rights and the environment .
Some analysts believe that the BRICS name does not correspond to current geopolitical reality
The term conceived by Jim O’Neil is already part of the terminology of the globalized world. However, some experts talk about the BRICS as a totally inadequate new axis. In this sense, other countries could also be part of it (for example, Indonesia, Mexico and Turkey have similar characteristics and are not part of the BRICS). At the same time, its component nations present very different realities (for example, China and Russia have a communist tradition in their recent history, but Brazil, India and South Africa do not).
The countries that make up the BRICS represent an emerging power on the world stage
Its leaders share political and economic goals and create mechanisms for cooperation. Aspirations for peace and cooperation in the world order were realized. However, from other perspectives, it is understood that these countries form an anti-Western bloc, whose main objective is to replace the dollar as the international currency.
