Living in our little world like limpets clinging to the rocky shores of our islands, it is very easy for us to turn our backs to the world and become absorbed in our internal squabbles. We do so at our peril. We cannot afford not to understand how the real world works as we need to navigate in the increasingly stormy uncharted waters of the second quarter of the 21st century. 

We are one of the most open and exposed countries in the world. We practically import and export everything. Our peace and prosperity depend on how well we manage our relationship with the rest of the world. We cannot shape what happens in the rest of the world but we can try to mitigate the negative effects of external shocks and grab the opportunities that arise. 

It is crucial for us to understand the global consequences of the BRICS summit held in Kazan, Russia, 10 days ago. 

Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) got it going in 2006 as a multilateral organization to cooperate for their mutual benefit. Since then, they have expanded twice: first in 2010 to become BRICS with the addition of South Africa, and again on January 1, 2024, with the inclusion of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, Iran, and Ethiopia when they became BRICS. Another 13 are partner countries.

With more than 40 countries showing interest or formally applying to join this multilateral organization, BRICS+’ rising influence is being widely seen as part of the shape of things to come: a multipolar world. 
After World War II, between 1945 and 1989, we live in a “bipolar” with the two great powers, the United States and the Soviet Union, competing for global hegemony. At the end of the 1980s, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, we had a “unipolar” world with the United States as the sole superpower dominating the world. 

Since 2008 we have seen a “multipolar” world struggling to be born where we have three global superpowers: the United States, China and Russia and a number of regional powers like India and Iran. 

Changed global economy  

In Kazan BRICS discussed how to strengthen their partnership and cooperation across three key areas: politics and security, the economy and finance, and cultural and humanitarian ties. They also discussed how to tackle climate change, enhance energy cooperation, safeguard supply chains and boost scientific and technological collaboration. 

Top of the agenda was how to set up a BRICS payment system, as an alternative to the present system dominated by the US dollar. The United States uses its huge leverage over the global financial and trade system to coerce other countries follow its diktats using sanctions as a continuation of war by other means. 

The global economic landscape has changed since 1992 when the G7 nations accounted for 45.5% of global GDP, while BRICS countries represented only 16.7%. In 2023, the BRICS bloc now accounts for 37.4% of global GDP, compared to the G7’s 29.3%. BRICS nations contribute over 40% of global GDP growth, with their collective economic growth rate projected to reach 4% this year—significantly higher than the 1.7% growth forecast for G7 countries and the 3.2% global average.But the voting rights of the BRICS+ countries in the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are around 15 percent. 

The emergence of BRICS on the world stage is part of the process of de-colonization to replace the “global” institutions mostly set up by the US supported by the former empires 80 years ago. 

Peaceful change? 

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, addressing the BRICS Summit last week, said: “Collectively, your countries represent nearly half of the world’s population. And I salute your valuable commitment and support for international problem-solving as clearly reflected in your theme this year. But no single group and no single country can act alone or in isolation. It takes a community of nations, working as one global family, to address global challenges. Challenges like the rising number of conflicts. The devastation of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss…Rising inequalities and lingering poverty and hunger… A debt crisis that threatens to smother plans for the future of many vulnerable countries… The fact that fewer than one-fifth of the Sustainable Development Goals are on-track… A growing digital divide, and a lack of guardrails for artificial intelligence and other frontier technologies… And a lack of representation and voice for developing countries at global decision-making tables. From the Security Council to the Bretton-Woods institutions and beyond. This must change.”

Guterres said that today’s international financial system is “outdated, ineffective and unfair” must change to offer many vulnerable countries the safety net or level of support they need.” He ended his address by saying that BRICS can play a very important role to strengthen multilateralism for global development and security.

Multilateral organizations representing the 84% of the world population want global governance to work in the interest of the all the world population and not just the 16% of the collective West. 

Will the collective West allow the multipolar world to emerge peacefully or will it do all it can to extend its hegemony, even resort to direct or proxy war? Is it not at all possible for the West to learn to recognise the legitimate interests of other powers and countries? Is it impossible for the West to learn to live with others instead of over others? 

Multilateral organizations like BRICS help to create for – and with – small and medium states the essential room for manoeuvre to work for the common good of their people. Such organizations allow more nations to pursue their own paths and seek to control as much as they can of their own destiny. After all, our countries, whatever the size, are made up of people, not pawns. We have the same hopes, aspirations and the right to live a decent life “free from fear and want” as those living in bigger countries than ours.   

Times of Malta 1 November 2024