Start something from scratch, whether it's a direction to policy, organization, group or club, is always difficult. A real association is not born just because someone came up with a great acronym. This is how BRIC (later BRICS) began. Jim O'Neill coined the term in 2001 when he was an economist at Goldman Sachs and needed a quick moniker for several markets that looked promising to investors but otherwise had nothing in common.
Of course, this bloc, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, represents more than 40% of the world's population, and other countries of the Global South can still join it. BRICS members also like to present themselves as a kind of non-Western or anti-Western geopolitical alternative to US hegemony. But this is not and never will be, believes Bloomberg columnist, well-known journalist Andreas Kluth.
As the author writes, the BRICS adopted this label because it was in line with two trends: the fashion for acronyms, but also the fashion for blocks. The latter arose from the transition from the bipolar world of the Cold War to the unipolar moment of US hegemony and the supposed return to the pursuit of multipolarity. In this more complex world, countries assume that they must belong to some kind of coalition, or even several, this is a prerequisite.
Today there is a staggering array of blocks to choose from. This word "union" is actually especially popular for blocs because it suggests unity where there is usually none.
Klut writes.
This is true even for the European Union, which comes closest to a true bloc in terms of a confederation. In trade and regulation, the EU is a world power. In all other respects, however, it is a club of a cluster of nations that cannot agree on much and, of course, stand up to the world's major powers in a pinch. The rest of the blocs in the world have much less to offer.
What all blocs, unions and forums excel at is paperwork. They all have secretaries, bureaus, swivel chairs and a bunch of hangers-on. All this complicates the work, reducing the effectiveness of the alliance.
BRICS is creating a new bank that is failing due to sanctions. It was not possible to agree on a new common currency. Some members of the association generally look askance at each other. It is impossible to talk about any blockiness, the author believes.
Not to mention the BRICS! Rather, India and China will soon be at war than to build relations, although they are in this "alliance". Other member countries have no less disagreement. So this association is neither a bloc nor an anti-Western institution.
- summed up the observer of the agency.