BRICS, Creative Diplomacy for a World in Crisis

I propose, as starting points for Brazil's BRICS presidency in 2025, the notion of a world in crisis and the idea that the bloc represents a creative exercise in diplomacy highly relevant to the current scenario.

The premise of a world in crisis confront us at every moment, on our cell phones or on other screens through which we receive information in real-time: I am talking about the proliferation of ongoing armed conflicts in the world, from the wars in Ukraine, Palestine, Myanmar and Sudan to the daily drama of spiraling gang violence in Haiti. According to the Conflict Data Program at Uppsala University, in 2023, armed conflicts were recorded in 59 countries, the most significant number in the historical series, which began in 1946. This escalation of violence and unmanageability, which presents a prolonged humanitarian tragedy with no solution in sight in Palestine despite the repeated appeals and condemnations regarding the Israeli government's military actions in the region, underscores the multilateralism crisis in the peace and security field. At a recent meeting in Madrid of countries committed to a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict, which continues to claim thousands of innocent civilians lives in Palestine, I recalled that no one can, now or in the future, claim ignorance of the atrocities and aggressions committed daily not only in Gaza but also in the West Bank.

The United Nations and its Security Council have demonstrated an inability to promote reforms that ensure representation in line with 21st-century geopolitical realities and provide adequate responses to current challenges. The post-World War II security architecture is clearly showing signs of exhaustion and requires profound reforms. Likewise, the recent unilateral trade measures adopted by the United States, the use of tariffs as a weapon and the latent risk of a global trade war are putting at risk a multilateral trading system that was already in deep crisis. The decline in the World Trade Organization's political relevance and the erosion of its mechanisms for enforcing multilaterally agreed rules in the lead-up to the current crisis have created conditions for the present escalation to unfold without political or economic consequences for those involved.

In the social sphere, the optimism surrounding the advent of the digital technological revolution at the turn of the century has given way to pessimism and concern about the highly harmful social and political effects of disinformation on social media platforms. The "engineers of chaos," as defined by author Giuliano da Empoli (2019) in his landmark work on the conversion of networks into a political weapon at the service of extremist movements in democratic societies, have been working systematically to undermine the democratic order through disinformation and hate campaigns.

For the second premise, that of creative exercise of diplomacy, a brief reference to the acronym's origin is sufficient. It was initially limited to a theoretical formulation by economist Jim O'Neill of Goldman Sachs in the article "Building Better Global Economic BRICs" (with a lowercase "s"), published in November 2001. When referring to the then so-called "emerging markets" Brazil, Russia, India and China, and the trend–confirmed in the following years–that they would occupy a growing share of the world GDP, O'Neill created the acronym and defended the thesis that a G7 reconfiguration was necessary to make room for these new players, led by the expressive growth of China. For the author, a new G7 institutional design would be an indispensable step towards better global coordination in the economic field.

O'Neill's thesis in favor of this reform did not prosper within the G7. However, it did give rise to a political dialogue in the diplomacy of the four emerging countries mentioned above, which began on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in 2006, with the first meeting at the ministerial level of foreign affairs. The closer dialogue in subsequent meetings identified, in that international context, an opportunity for coordination at the highest level among the four countries. In line with President Lula's forward-looking vision for international affairs, Ambassador Celso Amorim, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, played a leading role throughout the entire process. The BRICS heads of state summit in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 2009 and the subsequent incorporation of South Africa the following year were natural consequences of this rapprochement process, which consolidated the current acronym BRICS, with the capital S representing South Africa.

The group's heterogeneity, in relevant aspects such as economic weight, population size and political systems, was initially seen by critics as insurmountable obstacles to effective coordination. However, this diversity was taken into account from the outset as part of the creative effort to foster diplomatic dialogue.

This balanced and flexible format, which has so far dispensed with fixed structures such as a secretariat, has been the hallmark of BRICS' consolidation as a relevant voice on the international stage and as a mechanism for promoting the exchange of experiences and cooperation among its member countries. The establishment of the New Development Bank (NDB) by the five member countries, headquartered in Shanghai and focused on financing projects and solutions tailored to its member's realities, provided the group with a significant financial instrument capable of supporting the deepening of cooperation. The BRICS summit in Fortaleza in July 2014 was the stage for the signing of the agreement that created the bank.

With 120 projects already approved and a total of US$ 40 billion in financing granted, the NDB, currently chaired by former President Dilma Rousseff, has sparked the interest of other developing countries that are not BRICS members, opening up the possibility for these countries to participate. Bangladesh, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and, more recently, Algeria have become bank members. The approved projects encompass essential development areas, including transportation and sanitation infrastructure, environmental protection, and renewable energy.

GROWTH CHALLENGES

The initial success of BRICS as a platform for coordination among developing countries has naturally led to debate and deliberation over the past two years on expanding the number of member countries. The expression of interest from more than 30 countries in joining the group required this discussion. At the Johannesburg summit in 2023, a decision was made in favor of invitations that resulted in the accession of Iran, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, and, later, Indonesia as full members. Saudi Arabia, also formally invited, has participated in some activities but has not yet officially joined as a full member.

Last year, under the Russian presidency, the Kazan summit marked the admission of a new type of member: BRICS partners. This resulted in the incorporation of Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Nigeria, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and, more recently, Vietnam.

One of the Brazilian BRICS presidency responsibilities is adapting to this new composition, which has been underway since the meeting of foreign affairs ministers in April this year in Rio de Janeiro, where full members participated on the first day. Partners joined on the second workday.

In the original format, the reduced number of participants provided greater flexibility, as the five members' leaders could sit down and deliberate. The expansion introduces new demands in terms of meeting time and format, as well as more complex consensus-building. For this reason, the new members were presented, as part of the accession process, with basic consensus guidelines that had already been consolidated in BRICS as criteria to be endorsed by them. These guidelines included the documents and declarations signed by the bloc up to that point, support for the BRICS position in the debate on the reform of global governance institutions, especially the United Nations (UN) and its Security Council, and the commitment not to support sanctions on BRICS member countries if the UN Security Council has not approved these.

Fine-tuning consensus-building in the expanded format will require some time to adapt. However, the first meeting of foreign ministers under the Brazilian presidency has already indicated a great deal of agreement on almost all issues. As a result, BRICS will continue to speak with one voice, reinforced from now on by the increased weight of its 21 members, including full members and partners. The expansion has strengthened BRICS as a platform for addressing current and future challenges, among them the defense of diplomacy and multilateralism, whose reform and strengthening can no longer be delayed. Only swift and effective collective action can reverse the current state of weakness of international institutions.

In this new context, without losing sight of its responsibility to adapt its institutions and operations to the deliberations, Brazil has established the priorities of its presidency, focusing on concrete advances in terms of cooperation and political coordination in the face of a challenging global scenario. The label that characterizes us has changed from "emerging countries" to "Global South," but not the nature of the challenges that we must face and that have accumulated in recent years due to the international community's inaction.

The expanded BRICS face the challenge of cooperation as a tool for promoting development and overcoming problems still arising from poverty and inequality within their societies. On a global scale, it presents itself as an accredited voice of the so-called "Global South" in favor of changes and new responses to an era of converging crises and existential threats to the planet caused by human action, such as climate change. As credentials, it goes far beyond population, territorial weight and regional representation. In addition to bringing together approximately half the planet's population and accounting for a significant portion of global energy production, the full members of BRICS have a share of 23% of trade flows and around 39% of global GDP.

The Brazilian presidency has established as priorities the deepening of cooperation, especially in the area of health, the coordination of positions on climate change debates in the context of COP30, and the development of instruments to facilitate trade and investment among bloc members. The achievement of concrete advances in these areas has been systematically sought so that the leaders at the BRICS summit in July in Rio de Janeiro can endorse it.

Although Jim O'Neill's initial proposal of an expanded and more representative G7 did not materialize as he envisioned in his article, the strengthening of BRICS enabled coordination to take place within another forum–the G20–composed of 19 countries and two regional blocs: the European Union and the African Union, the latter having been incorporated last year during the Brazilian presidency.

Created in 1999 in response to the global economic crisis that began during that period, the forum brings together the five members of the initial BRICS and all the G7. This interaction between the two blocs has enabled the coordination effort in the direction of the global economy advocated by O'Neill, which has been expanded to address other challenges, such as the climate crisis, combating hunger and poverty, and reforming global governance.

The actions of the BRICS countries in forums such as the G20 effectively disprove the stereotype that this was a formulation with an anti-Western bias. The absurdity of the stereotype, derived from hasty or self-interested analyses, cannot stand up to the fact that no bloc that brings together members with the diplomatic trajectory and profile of countries such as Brazil, South Africa and India can be considered anti-Western. By geography, cultural ties, and trajectory, Brazil is often identified with the West. However, it does not relinquish its critical role in addressing the current global disorder, nor its ability to relate to all countries in the world that wish to have us as a partner.

Last year, Brazil's G20 presidency demonstrated that it is feasible to build consensus and launch concrete initiatives in these areas, such as the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty, which has already attracted the support of around 150 partners, including more than 80 countries. It also highlighted the importance of countries like Brazil's role in bringing positions closer together in a forum where not all countries have bilateral channels to resolve differences among themselves. The current heightened antagonisms and geopolitical tensions scenario has not prevented consensus from being reached or concrete initiatives, such as the Alliance, from being implemented. Likewise, the focus on pragmatism and achieving concrete results in priority areas, which has guided the Brazilian BRICS presidency, will demonstrate the viability of cooperation and political dialogue within the bloc, starting now in its expanded format.

Creative and pragmatic diplomacy in the Global South thus presents, with a reinforced voice and the capacity for repercussion and influence, new ways of facing the dilemmas and threats of a world in crisis.

* Translated by Catarina Werlang, revised by Bruno Zilli and Feliciano de Sá Guimarães.

References

da Empoli, Giuliano. 2019. Os engenheiros do caos: como as fake news, as teorias da conspiração e os algoritmos estão sendo utilizados para disseminar ódio, medo e influenciar eleições. Brasil: Vestígio Editora.

O’Neill, Jim. 2001. “Building Better Global Economic BRICs.” Global Economics Paper No. 66. New York: Goldman Sachs. https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/archive/archived-research/building-better.html.

Submitted: June 5, 2025

Accepted for publication: June 13, 2025

Copyright © 2025  CEBRI-Journal.  This  is  an  Open  Access  article  distributed  under  the  terms  of  the  Creative  Commons  Attribution  License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original article is properly cited.