India should have no illusions about Brics

It is dominated by China, and there’s little in the way of common political values

The Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (Brics) summits do well because expectations are so low. That the Brazilian president hosted the latest round of the summit was, in itself, an accomplishment given that Jair Bolsonaro had once questioned whether Brics membership made sense for his country. India was pleased that five subgroups to counterterrorism working group were set up, and support for the Financial Action Task Force reiterated. The Brics member-states laid out their belief in the international trading system, the Paris climate agreement, the United Nations, and the possibility of working more closely together in areas like digital security and migration. But announcements of creating any institutional flesh continues to be evasive, and, so, Brics remains very much less than the sum of its parts.

Brics has other problems. China and India have prospered economically more than the original Goldman Sachs report had predicted. The other members have underperformed resulting in a divergence within the Brics member states themselves. South Africa remains the odd one out, even when it comes to complying with Brics formulations. Yet Brics continues to reflect a point of view that is not quite status quo, but not aligned with the revanchism of the developing world. Brics, if anything, has emerged looking rather mainstream given the negative role the United States is presently playing when it comes to maintaining the global order.

Nonetheless, India should have no illusions as Brics is far from being a coherent international body. It is overly dominated by China, which represents more than half of the membership’s economic clout. There is little in the way of common political values. And geopolitics remains a dagger in the heart of the relationship. It is useful for hedging purposes and domestic consumption but is still a road under contemplation, let alone construction.