Valdai Club

The world is facing significant geopolitical shifts. It is also, as confirmed by the IMF, facing shifts in the flow of financing as they come to reflect geopolitical alliances. Much has been argued regarding what global reforms are required to remedy the defects in the institutional architecture of global governance. Extensive research has also confirmed the failure of multilateralism to not only achieve the ends of the UN Charter but also implement its mandates. This conversation attempts to match the discourse and momentum for reform and development with the response of the BRICS bloc and others’ efforts. It outlines the global context in which the bloc must attempt to meet its objectives and reflects upon whether or not the bloc is advancing a new global agenda.

BRICS and Contemporary Global Challenges

From October 22-24, 2024, BRICS will hold its next summit of heads of state and government. This summit is being held amid fast-growing momentum to reform multilateralism and its institutions, as demonstrated by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)’s adoption of the Pact for the Future (PFTF). This pact speaks to the affirmation of the correctness of the global reform and development agenda. It does not specify exactly what, when, or how reform should happen, such as UN reforms. However, the BRICS bloc, as a platform for discussion and consensus-driven cooperation and a significant component of the G20, also bears the responsibility and has an opportunity to negotiate and push for the required reforms. BRICS said of the G20 in 2009, “We stress the central role played by the G20 Summits in dealing with the financial crisis. They have fostered cooperation, policy coordination, and political dialogue regarding international economic and financial matters (BRICS Summit Statement, 2009).”

The financial crisis may still have a lingering impact; the globe is still recovering  The COVID-19 pandemic has also ended, leaving the globe, particularly developing economies, with its harsh legacy. Will the economic impact of COVID-19 persist? Prognosis from 21st century pandemics. International Monetary Fund.) The harsh effects of climate change on Southern Africa and other areas across the globe continue to display an unsettling trend.  The world is battling to sustain the global solidarity required to resolve global challenges, with states’ (in)ability to solve problems such as inequality increasingly losing citizens' confidence   ‘Polycrisis’ continues to be a regular feature of the global discourse lexicon. Geopolitical tensions amid the changing landscape also add to the complexity of today’s world and multilateralism, with the IMF confirming changes in the behaviour of financial flows in accordance with geopolitical alliances. 

BRICS and Multilateralism

Russia will also host the BRICS Summit in Kazan, where multipolarity will become a regular feature in the international relations (IR) discourse and a new global reality. The popularity of the reform and development agenda of the BRICS bloc is growing, as evidenced by the BRICS + expansion, with up to 40 potential new members having at least expressed an interest; 23 have applied. One of the requirements for joining the bloc and the New Development Bank is membership first; “The membership shall be open to members of the United Nations, in accordance with the provisions of the Articles of Agreement of the New Development Bank. It shall be open to borrowing and non-borrowing members (Agreement on the New Development Bank, Article 2).” 

The BRICS bloc has also placed the centrality of the UN as fundamental in any kind of multilateralism. The bloc has identified the premier institutions and instruments for global cooperation, with their challenges, but also with the potential to achieve great solidarity for action in the interest of humanity. The 2009 joint statement of leaders at the Yekaterinburg Summit says of the UN:

“We express our strong commitment to multilateral diplomacy with the United Nations playing the central role in dealing with global challenges and threats. In this respect, we reaffirm the need for a comprehensive reform of the UN with a view to making it more efficient so that it can deal with today's global challenges more effectively. We reiterate the importance we attach to the status of India and Brazil in international affairs and understand and support their aspirations to play a greater role in the United Nations (BRICS Summit Joint Statement, 2009).”

The 2023 BRICS Summit declaration named Brazil, India, and South Africa as countries it supports for permanent membership of the UNSC. The centrality of the UN in multilateralism has been repeatedly affirmed by the bloc over its 16 years of existence and has been demonstrated through the requirements for its membership. However, it also includes the UN system in its reform and development agenda, expressing desire for a reformed and fit-for-purpose UN for multilateralism, both today and in the future.

BRICS and Economic Cooperation

The High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism (HLAB), 2023, [High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism (HLAB). 2023. A Breakthrough for People and Planet: Effective and Inclusive Global Governance for Today and the Future. United Nations University. New York.] whose many recommendations are central to the founding motive of the BRICS bloc in 2009, spells out the challenges facing global economic development (HLAB,2023).  It spells out six shifts, among which a shift in the global financial architecture is a key feature. The BRICS bloc began its journey in 2009 to pursue reform and development, democratisation, representativity, and equity in global governance. To this end, much momentum has been garnered together with other global efforts, towards persuading for the much-needed reforms. At its 15th Summit of Heads of State and Government, the bloc instructed its finance ministers and central bank governors to investigate the feasibility of an additional payment system (BRICS Johannesburg 2 Declaration, 2023).

Much is therefore expected of the 2024 Summit, with great anticipation for a possible announcement of a new payment system, its scale, and resumption date. This is particularly so considering the discourse on de-dollarisation, greater intra-BRICS trade and cooperation, and the advantages of BRICS + expansion.  Some have suggested that the BRICS bloc cooperates mainly on multilateral issues that emerged during the 2008 global financial crisis . Others, such as Prado  and Prado and Hoffman (Prado, M. M., & Hoffman, S. J. (2019). The promises and perils of international institutional bypasses: defining a new concept and its policy implications for global governance. Transnational Legal Theory, 10(3-4), 275-294.), investigate the use of International Institutional Bypass as a means of response to the challenges that have given rise to blocs such as BRICS. Kubayi   for his part, identifies a Marxian/Gramscian concept of a war of position to attain a passive revolution in which reform into a fit-for-purpose institutional architecture of global governance is achieved and collectively owned. Whichever lens one uses to inspect the BRICS bloc, 16 years after its inception, it has realised a multilateral development bank (MDB) in the form of the New Development Bank (NDB) and is officially developing a new global payment system.

These two developments in financial arrangements are the most visible of the BRICS interventions. Much is still to be seen in progress towards realising the ‘BRICS long-term goals: Roadmaps and pathways (2017)’, as in the publication of the recommendations proposing long-term steps and planning by the BRICS Think Tank Council. However, its total effort goes well beyond that, considering its activities in the G20, the UN, and the broader societal discourse of reform and development. Its responsibility to developing economies, especially in the Global South, is under constant observation, and given the urgency for development and relief from poverty, inequalities, and other suffering, it is observed with keen anticipation.

Is the BRICS Bloc pursuing a New Global Agend

Zondi et al.,  argue for deeper intra-BRICS cooperation to harness collective advantages and strengths to achieve its ends. This is also echoed by Zhongxiu and Qingx  particularly taking advantage of its population and economic growth. Both these texts suggest the harnessing of the  strength of BRICS, a strength that can be of great value in multilateralism (Stuekel, 2013), especially for the benefit of developing economies. The greater global situation is well-known and is both intensively and extensively documented. The global response to the situation is beginning to attract popular attention. This has been evident in the momentum toward the Summit of the Future and after the adoption of the PFTF.99


The global reform and development agenda is old and has manifested in different ways on different occasions, such as the New International Economic Order, a declaration adopted by the UN on May 1, 1974 (www.unctad.org). This effort waned as quickly as it emerged, as have others. However, in the 70s, the economies of the BRICS members were not as developed and as advanced as they are today, nor did they enjoy the level of influence during the Cold War and succeeding periods that they do today. Today, we have commentaries on Jim O’Neill’s 2001 paper on ‘building better economic BRICs,’  .] as if he were responsible for the bloc existing. Others talk of the rise of the Global South . Many, including BRICS countries, argue that it is a new reality that must be reflected in a reformed and fit-for-purpose institutional architecture of global governance.

It may well be necessary to define a new global agenda beyond what has already been discussed. However, what is certainly clear is that there is a shift toward multipolarity, one founded centrally on the inadequacy of the current international system and the history of pains of underdevelopment, inequalities, and other malaise that the majority of the global population has had had to endure. Perhaps the shift towards multipolarity and a fairer global governance system is the ‘New Global Agenda,’ which BRICS has been arguing about since 2009. The outcomes of the adoption of a new payment system, the expansion of the NDB, and other BRICS initiatives will be the most telling regarding what the new global agenda is, or at the very least, what the BRICS Reform and Development Agenda is.