The BRICs and Their Growing-Up Crisis

This article is published as part of Fridays With MUNPlanet , and its special series dedicated to world politics. The aim of this series is to bring you the analysis of global affairs by the established and upcoming scholars, decision-makers and policy analysts from various world regions.This week,Moises Costa (Brown University) analyzes the development and dynamics of the BRIC countries with a special focus on Brazil. The author further discusses some of the common challenges that are ahead of Brazil, Russia, India and China as BRIC and argues that “it seems that for the BRICs, ‘the choice to lead an ordinary life is no longer an option.’ They continue and will continue to be a relevant group to any international analysis.”

“The BRICs are dead,” announced the Financial Times in late January, referring to the now-famous group of large emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China. What is surprising is that the group’s demise did not come when Russia disregarded the international community during the Crimean crisis or even when the Chinese economy began to slowdown last year, a phenomenon The Economist called “Coming down to earth.” The fall of the BRICs came once Brazil became “the sick man” of the group due to much more than the country’s recent Zika virus epidemic.

It is true that Brazil’s economy is performing poorly and that corruption scandals have lost their novelty since a new one seems to come to light every day. All of these events are part of what the media has labeled the “current Brazilian crisis.” However, despite all of the potentially destabilizing forces concurrently imploding in Brazil, the institutional foundations of the country seem to remain firm. That is not to say that they have not been challenged — they certainly have! But they have been able to stage both those being accused of wrongdoing as well as those doing the accusingwithout ceding to the pressures of either side, and that is reason for optimism. That is how a mature and stable nation behaves.

One exampleis illustrative. A number of high-level politicians and businessmen have been accused, prosecuted, and thrown in jail for participating in a corruption scheme that diverted money from the state-owned oil company Petrobrás in order to finance political favors of many colors. Of special significance are those acts involving the Worker’s Party (PT), which has been in power for the last thirteen years, first with President Lula and now with President Dilma Rousseff. This is significant not because the public found out that there is corruption in government — which to many Brazilians defines politics itself — but because corrupt acts are actually being prosecuted and people thought to be untouchable are now in jail.At any other point in time, it would be expected that the ruling party would be able to extinguish any attempt to reveal its illegal activities to the public. However, the federal police and the judiciary have been able to act independently according to the law and within institutional constraints without being crushed by the political sphere, which is what people would otherwise expect to happen.

You can read the full article on MUNPlanet.

Cover Image: GDJ2015/Wikipedia