It would be a huge mistake for the West to dismiss the recent BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit in Kazan - the unofficial "Islamic" capital of Russia - as an anti-Western event of no significance. Western governments may want to believe that the gathering showed a lack of unity and substance, but the reality is much more complex.
China, Russia, Brazil and India formed the BRICS in 2006 (South Africa joined in 2010) as a counterweight to the G7, a club of leading Western industrialized nations, and the wider US-dominated global order. Although the initiative was never taken seriously in the West, BRICS has evolved into a multilateral platform not only for countries like China and Russia - which want to end Western dominance and, in Russia's case, establish a new, explicitly anti-Western global order - but also for more neutral powers. in the making.
Moreover, the group has recently expanded to include not only Iran and Ethiopia, but also Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, which have a strong interest in good relations with the United States and other Western governments (Saudi Arabia has accepted an invitation to join, but has not yet formally done). That is why the group has advanced towards its goal of serving as a multilateral platform that is independent of the West and any economies that rely on the dollar or the euro.
The long-term significance of this progress should not be underestimated, especially considering that several emerging economies have expressed interest in joining the group. During this century, BRICS+ could become a tool of the "others", set against the West. This would be a striking dialectical result of globalization and the free trade agenda promoted by the West in recent decades.
Given the long-term implications, the West should not confuse Russia's desire to overturn the world order with the strategic goals of the rest of the bloc. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his inner circle may be living in their own 19th century dream world, but the same cannot be said for China, India, Brazil, South Africa or the new Arab members. They are not seeking a break with the existing global order or the West, but are for increasing global influence, recognition and prestige. This is especially true for the new superpower, China.
The situation presents both a challenge and an opportunity for the West, provided that Donald Trump's second term does not open existing global fault lines. If the West remains politically and culturally united, it will continue to play a leading role in the 21st century despite its demographic challenges. But - he must learn to share power.
Decolonization began at the end of World War II, almost 80 years ago. When the United Nations was founded in 1945, it had only 51 member states; today, after a long, tumultuous period in which many new nation-states emerged from former European colonies across the global south, there are 193. Yet despite the widespread achievement of formal sovereignty, there has never been a real redistribution of power and wealth.
Beginning in the late 1970s, China broke out of its self-imposed Maoist ideological prison and began its gradual integration into the Western-dominated world economy, a process that accelerated after its accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001. With China's opening up and the end of the Cold War in the late 1980s- them, a new world order was born and, like it or not, the rise of BRICS is an expression of this historical change.
The desire of developing countries and developing economies to take their share of global power and wealth is completely understandable and justified. The Western world should stop reacting defensively and ignorantly to the aspiration of those countries to realize their legitimate interests. But emerging powers must realize that with more power and economic influence comes greater responsibility.
A new, balanced world order will still require firm rules based on universally accepted values. Otherwise chaos, violence and war will ensue. If a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (Russia) attacks its neighbor (Ukraine) without reason, it calls into question the fundamental principles of the UN and the prevailing world order.
The resurgence of war in the age of nuclear weapons and artificial intelligence represents an unprecedented international threat. Both G7 and BRICS+ face the same danger; everyone is in the same boat, with the same shared responsibilities. The fact that two major authoritarian powers with imperial ambitions lead the BRICS makes the need for global diplomacy even more urgent. A future based on the principle of "who is stronger is right" ultimately means a return to a well-known past, one that the founding of the United Nations and its founding conventions were meant to end forever.
What rules do the BRICS+ countries intend to follow? The world deserves an answer to this crucial question.
The author was the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Vice Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005; he led the German Green Party for almost 20 years
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2024. (translation: NR)
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