Bolsonaro and the BRICS: Bull in a china shop?

Image: Flickr, Marcos Corrêa
Image: Flickr, Marcos Corrêa

Jair Bolsonaro – Brazil’s new president – has drawn the ire of many on the basis of his often-controversial utterances.

Summary:

  • Under his new conservative administration, there will be a clear priority shift in Brazil’s domestic and foreign policies. These changes are not expected to cause a schism within the BRICS.
  • Nevertheless, understanding Brazil’s domestic socio-economic and political environment will shed light on the policy priorities Brasilia will bring to the BRICS chair in 2019.
  • Three areas in the upcoming BRICS calendar that could ensure that complementarities between the BRICS are fully leveraged include enhancing intra-BRICS economic cooperation, consolidating positions on global governance reform and challenges and aligning the New Development Bank’s (NDB) efforts with national development agendas.
The views expressed in this publication/article are those of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect the views of the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA).

1 Apr 2019