Brics, its challenges, and Brazil's 2025 rotating presidency

Abstract

Over the past two decades, BRICS has transformed from a coalition of five emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, into the expanded BRICS+ platform, now engaging a wider set of countries from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eurasia. This evolution reflects growing dissatisfaction with Western-led governance structures and the need for more inclusive, multipolar approaches to global challenges such as climate change, public health, and technological governance. Under Russia’s 2024 presidency, BRICS reaffirmed commitments to United Nations (UN) centered multilateralism and global governance reform, while Brazil’s 2025 presidency, aligned with its Group of Twenty (G20) leadership, focuses on deepening global South cooperation through six priority areas: health, trade and finance, climate, Artificial Intelligence (AI) governance, peace and security, and institutional development. BRICS+ expansion has enhanced legitimacy and reach but also poses risks to policy cohesion, prompting calls for tiered membership and clearer governance frameworks. The bloc’s thematic cooperation is advancing in climate finance reform, carbon market integration, vaccine R&D, and ethical AI governance. Financial architecture reform, led by the New Development Bank (NDB), aims to boost local currency trade, diversify payment systems, and finance sustainable infrastructure without conditionalities. Brazil’s strategic leadership in 2025 seeks to consolidate these agendas, positioning BRICS as a transformative force in global governance. To realize this potential, BRICS must translate its political vision into institutional innovations and strategic alliances that can anchor its influence well beyond rotating presidencies, shaping the long-term rules and norms of the emerging global order. Methodologically, the paper relies on a qualitative documentary analysis of BRICS summits, presidency programs, and institutional reports, allowing a systematized understanding of the bloc’s policy evolution and priorities.