Summary

The BRICS grouping, which takes its name from the initials of its members (namely Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), includes the world’s most important emerging powers. Due to their dimension, economic growth, demographic size and (increasing) military strength, these five states are becoming more and more influential, often taking a leading regional role and even launching some global-scale initiatives. On paper, the grouping has the potential to fundamentally alter the international geopolitical landscape. In practice, however, there are serious challenges to overcome, mainly in the fundamental differences between BRICS countries in terms of configuration and polity and, most importantly, the group’s lack a unified vision. Sometimes, their respective projects can diverge. But in the case of India and China, they openly clash.