For much of its early existence, BRICS was an acronym in search of a meaning. The original Goldman Sachs report that coined the term in 2001 simply pointed to four emerging economies—Brazil, Russia, India and China—that would be increasingly influential in terms of globalized trade and manufacturing. But the report’s author never suggested they might harmonize a broader multilateral agenda, let alone form an alliance.
Before long, however, the leaders of what subsequently became five countries when South Africa joined in 2010 began to gather on an annual basis. And in between those annual summits, their foreign ministers and other government officials began to organize routine lower-level meetings. Over time a common agenda began to take shape. While it never achieved a crystal-clear purpose, the BRICS grouping attempted to become a five-country counterweight to the G7, offering an alternative vision for global development as well as a critique of the existing international system that the West, led by the United States and Europe, still dominated.
More recently, across 2023 and 2024, the primary BRICS narrative was one of expansion. The organization’s original five members agreed to bring in new members, even as they disagreed about who they should be. Ultimately, five new full members—Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates—joined the original five nations last year. Another 10 states—Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam—were accorded the status of “BRICS partners,” meaning they will be invited to participate in nearly all of the bloc’s meetings moving forward.