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Saudi Journal of Economics and Finance (SJEF)
Volume-9 | Issue-11 | 475-498
Original Research Article
BRICS and the West: Emerging Powers and the Crisis of the Liberal International Order
Olawale C. Olawore, Taiwo R. Aiki, Oluwatobi J. Banjo, Victor O. Okoh, Tunde O. Olafimihan
Published : Nov. 15, 2025
DOI : https://doi.org/10.36348/sjef.2025.v09i11.004
Abstract
The BRICS block, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has become a unified economic bloc that is busily reshaping the frontiers of world governance. Representing more than forty percent of the global population and a growing portion of world GDP, BRICS expresses a different vision of multilateralism, which systematically asserts itself on the normative and institutional dominance of the Western order. This paper conceptualizes BRICS as a norm-entrepreneurial alliance that has the goal of transforming the world orders on finance, trade, and development cooperation without compromising the values of state sovereignty, policy autonomy, and South-South solidarity. This study is based on constructivist international relations theory and global political economy of institutional change to provide a complete analysis. The qualitative discourse analysis of BRICS summit declarations in 2009-2023 and policy communiqués lies in the quantitative evaluation of trade, investment, and financial-flow indicators retrieved by the World Bank, IMF, and UNCTAD. As the analysis has shown, BRICS has played a tangible role in the spread of multipolar governance norms, and it has also helped to introduce parallel institutions, including the New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement. Nevertheless, the capacity of BRICS to initiate a significant change is limited by internal disparities in economic power, political frameworks, and strategic ambitions between the members. The results indicate that although BRICS has a potential to promote a more inclusive and equitable international order, it is unable to do so because of profound disparities among members in economic strength, political structures, and strategic interests. BRICS exemplifies the irony of global change of shaking the existing power order and at the same time relying on it to maintain stability- the multi-faceted nature of reform and continuity that characterizes the modern age of global change. It is important to recognize this duality to comprehend the way international governance is changing in the modern multipolar and highly contested world.
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