Globalization is expediting and helping substantiate a multipolar world. After the Second World War, and especially since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the U.S., together with Western Europe, came to set the political, economic and financial rules for the international community affecting not only the external relations of states but global commerce, as well. The reality is if a nation needs to act, or function within the present international political, economic and financial system, it must do so by rules long-established by the U.S. and Western Europe.
The BRICS grouping — Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa —constituting 40% of the world’s population, aims to counterbalance the U.S.-Europe-led geopolitical system with its present laws and regulations.
Referring to the BRICS Development Bank created during their last Forum in Brazil, Dr. Nasser H. Saidi, former Chief Economist and Head of External Relations of Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), contended in the Huffington Post (7/21/14), “The establishment of the BRICS bank marks the delayed shift of 'soft power' from the 'West', from the U.S. and Europe to Asia and to emerging economies, confirming the shift in economic and financial weight.”
The next BRICS Forum in 2015 will be held in Ufa, Russia, hosted by President Vladimir Putin.
Is the creation of the BRICS grouping a positive step toward a more balanced global geopolitical, economic and financial arraignment or does it have the possibility of unhealthy competition, confusion, relaxation of well-accepted international standards and even chaos in the international system? Can a globalized economic and political system in a multipolar world function properly with only a few powerful countries of the Western world setting the rules of engagement?
