Can the BRICS re-open the “gateway to Africa”? South Africa’s contradictory facilitation of divergent Brazilian, Russian, Indian and Chinese interests

Abstract

Claims that the BRICS network has been presented as an “alternative” to exploitative global multilateralism, whereas Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa are in fact junior partners in perpetuating the under-development of Africa. According to the author, the BRICS stand accused of under-developing Africa in several respects, a process amplified by roller-coaster commodity price changes. Nonetheless, the author notes that some scholars think the BRICS have to a greater extent impacted the global order by driving some change in the procedural values of multilateralism.