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Alliances, Antagonism and Ambitions: Inside the BRICS Group — with Gustavo de Carvalho and Kwangu Liwewe

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Alliances, Antagonism and Ambitions: Inside the BRICS Group — with Gustavo de Carvalho and Kwangu Liwewe
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a welcoming ceremony for participants of the BRICS summit in Kazan. (Maxim Shemetov/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Hosted by Kwangu Liwewe
Featuring Gustavo de Carvalho
Produced by Finbar Anderson

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At a time when much of the discussion around U.S. President Donald Trump’s foreign policy concerns the impact it might have on Western alliances such as NATO and the G20, this week’s episode of Global Insights on The Lede considers the possible ramifications for another group entirely.

The BRICS group, an intergovernmental organization currently comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates, could be in a position to benefit from a fragmentation of more traditional alliances, but its motives are poorly understood, Gustavo de Carvalho, a senior researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs, tells New Lines’ Kwangu Liwewe.

“Narratives about BRICS tend to be full of hyperbole and a very limited understanding of what BRICS is and what BRICS is not.”

“We are in a period where narratives about BRICS tend to be full of hyperbole and a very limited understanding of what BRICS is and what BRICS is not,” says de Carvalho. The group’s members, he says, “are looking to BRICS as a vehicle to promote their interests in a global order that is not really seen as favorable to them, that is not really seeming to hear their voices, particularly when it comes to international financial institutions.”

“For a lot of the members, being part of BRICS gives them a certain degree of insurance [in] an international order that is seen as very volatile and very risky,” adds de Carvalho. “For these countries that are increasingly trading with other parts of the world outside of the West, if there is a major falling out in the global order, the ability to continue engaging with one another is seen as very important.”

Addressing the major context in which the group is currently being discussed, he says, “We often hear in Western circles about these attempts of BRICS to de-dollarize the global economy.” Trump recently threatened heavy sanctions if the group were to pursue such a policy. “But when we actually see what is being discussed and what has been decided within the group, there’s no active attempt of de-dollarizing, but rather to create more options for its members,” continues de Carvalho.

“We shouldn’t forget that out of the three African members that we have within BRICS at the moment … we have a very bitter rivalry between Ethiopia and Egypt. The consensus often is presented as a means of navigating those disputes,” says de Carvalho. But the nations that make up the BRICS group have found a way to accommodate each other’s differences, which can be significant.

“It’s a group that tends to disagree largely with one another and tends to be quite accepting and understanding of the fact that they will not always be in agreement about several issues,” says de Carvalho. “I agree with the fact that we are seeing a much more proactive Global South, but that does not necessarily mean that this is intrinsically a threat to Western countries on their own.”

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