BRICS, a Multi-Centre “Legal Network”?

Abstract

The paper analyzes the phenomenon of the BRICS group and its transformation into BRICs. From the first Summit, whose final declarations were mainly centered on economic, financial and commercial themes, the group attention has broadened its horizons, as to encompass health, agriculture, environment, international relations. The BRICS working method seems to suggest a new pattern of interstate relations, based on peer-to-peer cooperation, experiences sharing and "soft" policy transfer. Given the difficult classification of this new "entity", the author suggests considering it more as a network, where there is not a singular hegemony power, but where the relevance of the different countries varies according to the issue discussed in the Summit.

Sponsorship behaviour of the BRICS in the United Nations General Assembly

“…5 In this way, BRICS cooperation would be in line with activities of other regional groupings, which externalise their internal concerns at the global stage. 6 Given the expressed wish of the BRICS to cooperate on the UN level, and given that they already organise themselves as a network outside of the UN, 7 we expect them to engage in closer cooperation on policy proposals following their institutionalisation. Whereas earlier ARTICLE HISTORY scholarship has looked at the voting patterns of BRICS at the UN, 8 we use a different metric: we look at the co-sponsorship behaviour of BRICS countries in the United Nations General Assembly (UN GA).…”

The European Union and the BRICS

“…Hence, the 2009 Yekaterinburg Declaration focusing mainly on the global financial crisis was followed by future declarations which stressed issues such as international terrorism, environmental degradation and protection, global health issues and of course developments on the Iranian nuclear programme, the wars in Libya and Syria, etc. This emphasis on non-economic issues expanded the role of the BRIC(S) in the global arena giving emphasis on the issues of multipolarity, democratization of the international financial organizations and of a more equitable global governance structure (Scaffardi 2014;BRICS various declarations).…”