Are “Birds of a Feather Flocking Together” in the Midst of Global Gridlock?—Conceptualizing BRICS (+) as “ The Ne w Kid on the Block ”

Abstract

This research paper explores the potential that BRICS or BRICS+ (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) have in providing an alternative angle of analysis to the Western centrism that dominates the world order. BRICS is presented as a heterogeneous group of countries united by a common cause—the struggle for recognition in the face of Western hegemony in the neoliberal global order. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, this paper investigates the rise of the BRICS group, with the potential of soon becoming the BRICS+; and assesses the extent of their further development and influence from the perspective of IR. Of the many theories involved in the study of international institutions, this article employs those that, on the one hand, are the most influential in the framework of their respective IR theory paradigms and, on the other, represent the most interesting conceptual interpretations of the BRICS. At the end of this article, the analyses portray how traditional body politic challenges the shift of sovereignty from the nation-state toward global governance. In particular, will this norm-making act serve as the symbiotic energy to maintain the political health within our global political ecosystem?