| Summary/Abstract |
Over the past few years, the global economy’s centre of gravity has been moving away from the advanced countries, as the emerging economies have become the new growth poles. The focus on the emerging economies has increased considerably since the BRIC countries not only convened the first meeting of their leaders in 2009, but also added South Africa in less than three years. The paper examined the nature of co-ordination among the BRICS countries, and whether the presence of South Africa has made a difference to the group’s dynamics. There are areas in which the emerging economies have co-ordinated their positions and have thereby been able to put up a joint front. This has been most visible in the WTO negotiations on intellectual property rights and agriculture, the two areas in which the developed countries have dominant positions. But while in the WTO, the emerging
economies were proactive in making joint interventions in the climate change negotiations to further their aspirations. It is the ability of the BRICS to set the global economic agenda in forums like the G-20 that would mark the coming of age for the grouping. Thus far, they have not made any substantive alterations in the dynamics at the ‘high table’. A more co-ordinated approach on issues that unify them would better enable and strengthen them, and would help to justify their presence on the ‘high table’.
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