Political Science & Public Administration

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Browsing Political Science & Public Administration by Subject "Economically emerging countries"

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    An exposition of BRICS political and economic governance: towards a new and balanced global world order
    (University of Zululand, 2020) Khuzwayo, Noxolo Nomfundo
    The concept of BRIC was first introduced by Jim O’Neill in 2001 to describe a group of economically emerging countries (the Federative Republic of Brazil {Brazil}, Russian Federation {Russia}, Republic of India {India}, and People’s Republic of China {China}) who, on a purchasing power parity (commonly known as PPP) basis, contributed an aggregate of 23.3% to the world’s GDP in the year 2000. The Republic of South Africa formally joined this group in 2010 and together they represent 43% of the world’s population with a combined nominal GDP of US $13, 7 trillion and control 17% of the world trade. It is estimated that by 2027 BRICs (excluding South Africa) countries will overtake the G7 countries. The BRICS are in a similar stage of economic development. This group represents a huge economic power shift from the developed G7 (French Republic, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Italian Republic, Japan, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America and Canada). Therefore it is safe to deduce that these countries’ economic wellbeing is of paramount importance to the economic development of the world. BRICS is not a political alliance, rather it is a group of states that are still developing and are characterised by fast growing economies and these nations have significant influence on regional and global affairs. However, while they are still overcoming poverty, inequality and other challenges they share a common vision that aims to address the similar socio-economic characteristics that compound these nations. Each member of BRICS has its own political and economic characteristics e.g. Brazil has massive amounts of oil, along with large suppliers of agricultural products; Russia has great repositories of oil, along with coal and natural gas; India has iron ore, bauxite and copper ore and is one of the major producers of iron in the world; China has coal, iron ore, petroleum, natural gas, mercury, rare earth elements, uranium and the world’s largest potential for hydro power and lastly South Africa is the largest energy producer and consumers on the African continent it has diamonds and gold, the country also has reserves of iron ore, platinum, manganese, chromium, copper, uranium, silver, beryllium and titanium. Therefore, is it clear that the combination of these countries economically is very significant and they play an 14 important role in the international system, with regards to trade and international relations. Therefore, the study was motivated by these findings, hence it seeks to understand the formulation of BRICS and how this might contribute to a change in the global world order.
University of Zululand