China, India and the prospects of a BRICS-led maritime order in the Indian Ocean Region

Abstract

This article employs geopolitical analysis to assess BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) through a maritime perspective, with a specific focus on the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), and the possibility of the expanded BRICS (now including Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia) to serve as a mediating influence in the geopolitical rivalry and tensions that exist between China and India. As a bloc of emerging powers, many with maritime interests in the IOR, BRICS provides a possible avenue for collaboration and cooperation between China and India. The article explores new dimensions of BRICS as expanded and the prospects of a BRICS-led order in the IOR.