In this second episode of SAIIA’s World in Flux series, we examine BRICS through South Africa’s experience inside the group, using it as a window into what BRICS can realistically achieve, what it is unlikely ever to become, and why its rapid expansion has created both opportunity and friction.
What You Will Learn:
- Why South Africa, not the biggest emerging economy, was invited to join BRICS.
- What BRICS set out to do, beyond the myths of an “anti-West alliance.”
- How the New Development Bank offers real financing advantages.
- Why BRICS Pay matters, and why de-dollarisation is more constrained than headlines suggest.
- How expansion to Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the UAE and Indonesia reshapes internal politics.
- Where the bloc’s internal contradictions limit what it can deliver.
- Why US pressure and China’s weight complicate South Africa’s room for manoeuvre.
- How African states can use BRICS strategically without treating it as a geopolitical replacement for the West.
