From Russia to China and Brazil, these nations face major problems, with the notable exception of India
Listening to Vladimir Putin’s comments to the Brics summit in Johannesburg this week, one could be fooled into thinking that the West is about to be replaced by a powerful new trading bloc of economic powers challenging the dominance of our democracies.
In the parallel universe the Russian leader inhabits, the five founding members of Brics – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – are about to undertake a radical overhaul of the global system, replacing tired post-war institutions such as Nato and the UN with a new approach that reflects the wishes of the “global majority”.
Based on the principles of “equality, mutual support, respect for each other’s interests”, Putin believes “the future-oriented strategic course of our association” is to create an alternative global structure that better meets “the aspirations of the main part of the world community”.
The concept of Putin’s brave new world, where so-called emerging economies can present a viable alternative to the dominance of liberal Western democracy and the US dollar, has been around since the forum’s creation 15 years ago, even if its realistic purpose has been to bolster China’s bid for global domination.