The BRICS and Collective Financial Statecraft

Abstract

In the context of an ongoing global power shift, the largest emerging economies (China, Russia, India, Brazil) formed an exclusive and informal club called the BRICs. Subsequently joined by South Africa, the BRICS have exercised collective financial statecraft, defined as the use of financial and monetary policies by sovereign governments for the purpose of achieving larger foreign policy goals. This volume identifies four types of such financial statecraft, ranging from pressure for inside reforms of either multilateral institutions or global markets, to outside options exercised through creating new multilateral institutions or jointly pushing for new realities in international financial markets. The joint actions of the BRICS have been largely successful. Although each member has its own unique rationale for collaboration, the largest member, China, controls resources that afford it the greatest influence in intraclub decision-making. The BRICS hang together due to common aversions (resentment over being perennial junior partners in global economic and financial governance, resistance to infringements on their autonomy and dollar dominance) and common interests (obtaining greater voice in international institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund). The BRICS are neither revolutionaries nor shirkers. The group seeks reforms, influence, and leadership roles within the existing liberal capitalist global economic order. Where blocked, they experiment with parallel multilateral institutions in which they are the dominant rule-makers. The future of the BRICS depends not only on their bargaining power and adjustment to market players, but also on their ability to overcome domestic impediments to the sustainable economic growth that provides the basis for their international positions.

La iniciativa BRICS y China: entre la emergencia y la irrelevancia

“…El punto de partida de este artículo difi ere de algunos estudios que identifi can el nacimiento de los BRICS a un tipo de "aversion" al sistema unipolar, que se consolida en la pós-guerra fría. Los BRICS no surgieron en la era multipolar "después del colapso de la URSS a inicios de los años '90" (Roberts et al, 2018), sino en un sistema multipolar, después de la crisis fi nanciera de 2008. De esta manera, las "aversiones en común" no pueden caracterizarse como el "focal point" (Roberts et al, 2018) de la colaboración o cooperación entre los BRICS.…”

“…Los BRICS no surgieron en la era multipolar "después del colapso de la URSS a inicios de los años '90" (Roberts et al, 2018), sino en un sistema multipolar, después de la crisis fi nanciera de 2008. De esta manera, las "aversiones en común" no pueden caracterizarse como el "focal point" (Roberts et al, 2018) de la colaboración o cooperación entre los BRICS. Este trabajo parte de otro supuesto, que se aproxima más del argumento de un reclamo común (common claim) en una era multipolar.…”

“…Estas cuestiones nos remiten, en primer lugar, a la discusión teórica de la "emergencia" en las relaciones internacionales y, en segundo lugar, a analizar el grado de relevancia de los BRICS en el proceso de 'emergencia'. En este sentido, el fenómeno BRICS es importante en la medida en que su evolución institucional (Vadell e Ramos, 2019), fundamentada en el colective fi nancial statecraft (Roberts et al, 2018), respalda un conjunto de demandas por reformas institucionales del orden liberal económico Occidental y, al mismo tiempo, promueve, bajo el liderazgo de la República Popular de China (RPC), un nuevo orden normativo basado en principios reguladores y de Cooperación Sur-Sur (CSS) que desafían los fundamentos neoliberales.…”

Multilateral development banks, new developmentalism and local currency financing

“…According to Wang (2017), the banks of the third wave were born amidst the recent development of international capital markets and a shift in power within the global system: namely, from industrialized countries to emerging economies. Roberts et al (2017) explains that the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) recognize an ongoing global power shift that challenge the West's pretensions to permanent stewardship of the existing economic order. Wang (2017) adds that, since 2000, the BRICS' share of the global GDP grew from 8% to 22%, proving that, together, these countries may be able to exert more influence on international monetary policy.…”

Continuity, Discontinuity and Incoherence in the Bretton Woods Order: A Hirschmanian Reading

“…For complementary treatments, see e.g., Acharya (); Chin and Freeman (); Fritz and Mühlich (this issue); Grabel (); Helleiner (); Huotari and Hanemann (); Hurrell (); Mühlich and Fritz (); Roberts et al. (); Stuenkel ().…”