Brazil and South Africa: The Weak Links of the BRICS?

Abstract

As the central role of the state in international relations is challenged, many new actors are emerging on the world stage. Today, there are a multitude of international organizations or groups of countries with considerable influence. Among the latter, the BRICS are drawing increasing attention with greater economic and political weight. Calling for the need to build a multipolar world, the ideological approach of the group of five dynamic world economies is intended to unite in a world marked by Western hegemony. It is important to note, however, that the five countries that make up the BRICS have their own specificities, which differentiates them from one another. Apart from the ideological constant that undeniably unites them, the BRICS are above all five distinct economies, five political systems, five foreign policies, to name but a few factors. The author uses a number of criteria to analyze the place of Brazil and South Africa in the BRICS. Referring to the weaknesses of these two countries, the author pays a close attention to their foreign policy approach in the context of BRICS' restructuring of the world order, as well as to the political scandals identified in the last decade at the top of these two countries.