Indonesia, BRICS and the others
Ambition Between Promise and Limitation
eyesonindonesia
Amsterdam, 26 March 2026—BRICS, originally an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is an informal cooperation framework of major emerging economies that has evolved over the years into a geopolitical platform for the Global South.
The bloc has no fixed headquarters, no founding treaty and no permanent secretariat; the presidency rotates annually.
What began as a stock investment concept — coined in 2001 by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill as an analytical category for rapidly growing emerging markets — has grown into a significant geopolitical entity. BRICS currently brings together eleven major emerging economies: Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.
Impressive figures, but nuance is required
Those who look purely at the numbers are impressed. In 2024, the BRICS countries collectively represented around 28% of global GDP — and that share is growing. Measured by purchasing power parity, the economic size of BRICS already surpassed that of the G7 in 2018. The expanded bloc currently represents roughly 45% of the world’s population and 37% of global GDP on a purchasing power basis, making the bloc comparable in weight to the G7.
Yet caution is warranted. China’s contribution is overwhelming: the world’s second-largest economy accounts for roughly two-thirds of total BRICS GDP. Without China, the story is considerably less impressive. Moreover, the bloc is informal and lacks a binding institutional framework — which complicates collective action.
Internal tensions undermine effectiveness
BRICS’s greatest weakness is its own diversity. Political analyst Joseph Nye wrote that for Russia and Iran, BRICS is primarily useful as a means of escaping diplomatic isolation, but that expansion also brings more intra-organisational rivalries that limit effectiveness.
India and China, the two largest economies in the bloc, have historical border conflicts and competing regional ambitions. The vision of a common BRICS currency remains a distant dream; most financial cooperation proceeds through bilateral agreements.
What 2025 and 2026 teach us
2025 marked a turning point: BRICS evolved from a loose coalition held together by shared grievances into a more structured platform with slow but patient institutional development. Concrete steps have been taken towards alternative payment systems and trade integration in local currencies. India takes over the presidency in 2026, with the theme “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability.”
The future: influential but no revolution
The expansion of BRICS represents a strategic adjustment with limited transformative potential. The bloc remains embedded in Western-dominated financial structures; its institutional innovations function as parallel mechanisms rather than disruptive alternatives.
BRICS is neither the monolithic challenger to the West that some fear, nor the toothless talking shop that critics claim. It is a bloc in the making, with real weight, but also real limitations.
The question is not whether BRICS is relevant, but whether it can transcend its internal contradictions to genuinely help shape a multipolar world order.
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