First published: Prospectmagazine.co.uk, 25/07/2014
Economically and politically the five economies could not be more different when it comes to size, structure, values and national interests
Once upon a time, not long ago, the acronym “BRICS” suggested the biggest transformation in the way the world works and its governance structure since the Industrial Revolution. The term stands for “Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa,” and it captured the inevitability of economic dominance by large, rapidly growing emerging countries, and the decline of a mature and, more recently, beleaguered Western world.
But this view was always tainted by hyperbole, prediction-by-spreadsheet, and a complete disregard for political economy. While these problems with the BRICS concept have become increasingly apparent over time, Russia’s conduct in the Ukraine and the latest, tragic consequences of its support for separatist rebels have put a large nail in the coffin of the idea…“more:”
