BRICS is an international association, which modern experts consider to be very promising in terms of economic and, possibly, political cooperation of its member countries. When is the interaction of states within the framework of this union most active? What are the prospects for attracting new countries to it?
BRICS: the nuances of the name
BRICS is among the well-known and very influential, as many experts believe, international associations. There is an interesting aspect of BRICS - decoding. The history of the origin of this abbreviation is also interesting. It is deciphered, of course, simply. True, it must first be translated into the language of origin. The original abbreviation sounds like BRICS. Each letter is the first in the name of each BRICS country. The list of states that are members of this union is as follows:
- Brazil (Brazil);
- Russia (Russia);
- India (India);
- China (China);
- South African Republic.
Thus, the association in question is formed by five states.
But initially there were 4. The abbreviation in its first version was invented by Jim O'Neill, an American economist at Goldman Sachs. By publishing one of the reportsdocuments of his bank in 2001, he used the abbreviation BRIC, denoting promising developing countries, which included those mentioned above, with the exception of South Africa. Jim thus singled out Brazil, Russia, India and China as countries where it is possible to invest profitably due to their rapid economic growth.
The governments of the noted states, according to many analysts, to a certain extent highly appreciated the opinion of an expert from Goldman Sachs and began to periodically interact in order to find common ground in economic development. Since 2006, according to a widespread version, at the initiative of Vladimir Putin, meetings between the heads of the BRIC states, as well as with the participation of top officials of these countries, began to be held regularly. In 2011, along with the abbreviation BRIC (due to the rapprochement of the powers that form this association with South Africa), another word often began to appear in the world press - BRICS. The decoding of the countries marked by Jim O'Neill, and then South Africa, was quite satisfactory. The sequence of letters means absolutely nothing from the point of view of the influence of this or that state - it is chosen based on the principles of euphony.
Organizational basics
BRICS is an interstate association, but not a formal structure, like NATO or the UN. It does not have a single coordinating center, headquarters. However, quite often it is referred to as "organization". Among the key partnership activities, in which all countries participate,forming this association - the BRICS summit. Meetings are held in different countries. The consolidating basis of the activities of this international structure, as we have already noted above, is economic integration. Another key goal facing the BRICS is to promote the modernization of the economic systems of developing countries. Therefore, according to experts, new countries with economies in transition may join this international structure in the foreseeable future.
Thus, BRICS is an association that was created to jointly solve problems of an economic nature. The political aspect of the interaction of the states of this group, according to many experts, is rather weakly expressed. However, there are prospects for strengthening the corresponding component of cooperation. Let's consider this nuance in more detail.
Political aspect of cooperation
Actually, the principles of determining how the abbreviation BRICS should sound, deciphering which countries are members of the union, are characterized mainly by the economic basis. The states of the association under consideration were consolidated based on the fact that their economic systems were transitional and at the same time dynamically developing. And therefore, as we noted above, the prospects for the transformation of this union into a political one for a long time were practically not voiced by any of the leaders of these powers. In general, this position is maintained by the BRICS heads of state today.
At the same time, many experts note the fact that Russia and China in one way or another influencethe political situation in the world, if only for the reason that they are permanent members of the UN Security Council. And therefore - despite the fact that so far the relevant aspect of cooperation in the BRICS is not too pronounced - experts assess the potential of this union in the political context very highly. There is an opinion that even now, in the current situation on the world stage, the BRICS countries adhere to the general principles of solving problems. This means that in the future, experts believe, cooperation between the states of this association in the political plane can be quite active.
BRICS economy
From the point of view of the scale of the national economic systems of the countries that are part of the BRICS, this association is among the most powerful in the world. Thus, about 27% of world GDP is accounted for by the five countries under study. At the same time, the growth dynamics of the economies of the BRICS countries, especially China, allows some economists to say that the corresponding share of this international group in the world economy will only increase.
It can be noted that the BRICS countries have some economic specialization, which determines the competitive advantage of one state or another. It is very conditional, but in many respects it reflects the specifics of the structure of national economic systems. In particular, the Russian economy is strong due to natural resources, the Chinese one - due to industry, the Indian one - thanks to intellectual resources, the Brazilian one - due to developed agriculture, South Africa - as in the case of the Russian Federation, due tonatural resources.
At the same time, all BRICS countries have a sufficiently diversified economic system. So, in almost all of them, not only in China, mechanical engineering is developed. Brazil is one of the world leaders in the field of civil aircraft construction, Russia is one of the world's largest arms exporters, a significant percentage of which are produced based on the latest technologies.
Countries included in the association under consideration, according to many experts, are able to effectively resist the crisis. For example, the recession of 2008-2009, which affected most countries of the world, did not have a very pronounced effect, as some experts believe, on the economies of the five BRICS countries. Each of them was able, in particular, to quickly restore their GDP, which during the crisis, as in the case of developed countries, decreased.
Among the most noteworthy initiatives that could become very significant for the global economy, experts point out the intention of the BRICS countries to create a new international bank directly controlled by the states of this association.
In the economic sense, this union, analysts believe, has already made the modern world multipolar. There is a leading state in terms of the scale of the economic system - the United States. However, its economic opportunities are not much higher than those of most countries of the association under consideration. BRICS are countries with a GDP of trillions of dollars. In total, for all states - almost the samehow much is the US economy. There is a version that in terms of purchasing power parity, the economic system of a single country of association - China - is no longer inferior to the American one.
Let's consider the specifics of positioning their role of the states that form the BRICS. The composition of this association was disclosed above. These are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Let us define the features of each of the states, characteristic for their participation in the activities of the international structure we are studying.
India Outlook
According to some analysts, India joined the union in order to modernize its national economic system. As you know, in the 1990s, the government of this state set a course for restructuring the economy, developing production, and implementing anti-corruption measures. A large-scale, according to some experts, privatization was carried out. As a result, India is now among the largest economies in the world in terms of GDP. Thanks to interaction with BRICS, the country gets access to new technologies and experience of partner states.
Chinese interests
The BRICS organization, according to many experts, has a clear leader in terms of the economy. It's about China. Indeed, China today is the second largest economy in the world after the United States. She continues to grow rapidly. However, even though the PRC government has achieved undoubted success in the economic development of the state, the country is in constant search for reliable partners on the world stage. One of the tools for establishing promising linksfor China, it may be just the same BRICS association. Using the appropriate communications, China, according to analysts, finds new markets for goods, reliable suppliers of raw materials, and potential investors.
Role of South Africa
South Africa - a state that is considered one of the most economically influential on the African continent. At the same time, according to many experts, it still falls short of the status of a developed country. And therefore participation in the BRICS for the republic can be one of the possible channels for enhancing economic growth in order to achieve indicators characteristic of the most advanced states in terms of economic development. Interaction with the BRICS countries, according to some experts, has already played a positive role in giving positive dynamics to the development of many areas of the South African economy, in attracting investment and finding an optimal balance in foreign trade.
Russia and BRICS
Russia has huge reserves of natural resources, as well as significant, as many experts believe, technological potential. This makes our country attractive in terms of investing in a variety of areas. Especially now, when, due to falling oil prices and unclear prospects for their further dynamics, it is necessary to diversify the economy. In turn, BRICS is a huge market for the Russian Federation (in terms of sales of key export products). In the future, it will be a tool for attracting investments, especially taking into account possible sanctions,acting on cooperation between Russia and Western countries.
Brazil in BRICS
Brazil, according to many experts, has one of the most balanced national economic systems in the BRICS countries. The composition of the economy of this state can be considered sufficiently diversified. Both agriculture and engineering are developed. Through interaction with other BRICS members, Brazil can look forward to attracting new investment, as well as gaining access to the latest industrial technologies. In turn, the Brazilian experience in building an economic management model is assessed by many experts as very positive. It can be adopted by powers that have encountered difficulties in the development and modernization of national economic systems.
BRICS outlook
What is BRICS - decoding, which countries are included in the association - we have studied. How likely is it that the ranks of the organization will be replenished with new members in the near future? Which BRICS countries can host? These experts include, in particular, Mexico, Indonesia and Iran. The BRICS countries, which we listed at the very beginning of the article, thus, may well be represented in greater numbers.
Most likely, these will be states classified by economists as developing. For them, joining this international union will be dictated by objective reasons related to the modernization of the national economy. In particular, the modern economy of Iran, according to experts, is experiencing some difficulties in terms ofinteraction with foreign markets. The country's accession to the BRICS could open up huge opportunities for its national economic system.
At the same time, experts, assessing the prospects for the further development of this association, often focus on the fact that a number of specific problems are relevant for each of the countries that form it. For example, China, being one of the largest economies in the world, may face a crisis of political development. The communist system, according to some experts, may cause certain difficulties with the transfer of the country's economy to full-fledged market relations. In turn, in Brazil the problems associated with the administrative system have not been fully resolved, there are complex social tasks. South Africa has not yet overcome the consequences of apartheid. India is also not too well protected from possible social crises (due to the fact that the standard of living of most citizens is not very high). Russia's main problem, according to experts, is too large a share of the raw material sector in the economy. As a result, when oil prices halved, the ruble depreciated against the US dollar in almost the same proportion. Rebuilding the national economic system of the Russian Federation is not easy enough. However, further integration of the economy of our country with the BRICS can just contribute to this.
The development of the international union under consideration, many experts associate with the activation of the political channel of communication between states. We noted above that the relevant aspectcooperation between countries is not yet expressed too strongly. However, analysts believe that sooner or later economic interests will also have political overtones. This may be due, in particular, to the fact that the G7 countries may become BRICS competitors in many important areas for the world market. In particular, in the field of international finance. The fact that the BRICS countries are going to create their own bank, we noted above. It is intended, according to many analysts, to become an alternative to current international structures, such as, for example, the World Bank.
