Thursday Edition — BRICS: The Partnership of Sovereigns
Four powers, four choices, one world
What makes BRICS one of the world’s four great powers? It is a coalition built on resources, sovereignty, and shared independence from Western control.
BRICS began as an acronym, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, but has become a political and economic bloc representing nearly half the world’s population and over 30% of global GDP. Its influence comes from production and resources: energy from Russia and Saudi Arabia, manufacturing and finance from China, technology and services from India, and agriculture and minerals from Brazil and South Africa. Together, these nations hold a decisive share of the world’s food, fuel, and industrial output.
The group has expanded beyond its founding members. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates have joined or formally applied, strengthening BRICS’ position across the Middle East and Africa. With these additions, the bloc now spans every major continent and includes most of the world’s key energy producers. Its combined oil output already exceeds that of OPEC, and its members are projected to account for 45% of global GDP by 2040 if current growth rates continue.
BRICS’ purpose is to rebalance the global economy away from U.S. dollar dependence and Western-led finance. The BRICS New Development Bank, based in Shanghai, funds infrastructure without the political conditions of the World Bank. Members are expanding trade in national currencies, laying the groundwork for a multipolar financial system. If this trend continues, by the early 2030s, BRICS nations could settle more than 30% of their trade outside the dollar.
Where the European Union governs through law and China through long-term planning, BRICS exerts influence through production and partnership. It is not a unified bloc but a network of self-directed nations linked by common goals. That flexibility is its strength. Members can pursue national interests while coordinating on energy, transport corridors, digital trade, and resource security.
Culturally, BRICS reflects Particularism (Trompenaars): each country sets its own rules and expectations, guided by relationships rather than universal standards. In Hofstede’s framework, BRICS members rank high in Power Distance and Collectivism, favoring leadership and coordination over individualism.
In Hornby’s model, BRICS aligns with the South Worker archetype, pragmatic, productive, and focused on tangible results. It builds pipelines, ports, and factories rather than institutions or treaties. Power comes from working together and exchange, not control.
Why It Matters
BRICS represents a structural shift in global power. It now includes most of the world’s leading energy producers, fastest-growing economies, and largest populations. Its long-term goal is to form a self-sustaining economic system, complete with payment networks, credit institutions, and trade routes.
If current trends continue, BRICS could become the world’s largest trade network by the mid-2030s, responsible for more than 40% of global exports. Its approach appeals to developing nations that want growth without Western political conditions.
BRICS is still less organized than the European Union or as centrally coordinated as China, but its reach is expanding faster than either. It represents the rise of the productive world, nations that build, supply, and manufacture.
Next: Friday Edition — The United States: Reinvention and Renewal.
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