Conduit of economic growth, development and South to South cooperation? An assessment of South Africa and Brazil's BRICS membership

Abstract

The emerging economies known as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have joined together in order to form an economic group that challenges the status quo of the global north. Secondly it is a group that is determined to carve out for itself its own economic growth and developmental path by defining the two concepts in a manner that acknowledges the agency of the global south through South to South cooperation. This study examines whether or not BRICS is a conduit for economic growth and development and South to South cooperation by examining South Africa and Brazil. This is be done by examining eight measureable indicators over a ten-year period: - five years prior to entry into BRICS and five years after joining. This is supplemented with interviews conducted at four institutions that are directly involved with Brazil and South Africa and their membership in BRICS. As South Africa and Brazil are the smaller countries of the BRICS, are they able to maximise the benefits of being a member in terms of economic growth and development and is BRICS truly a conduit for South-to-South cooperation for the global south as they have argued. That is what the study is assessing; economic growth, development and SSC through a mixed method approach. Brazil and South Africa were able to achieve certain economic growth and development milestones prior to joining BRICS, so it is important to assess whether BRICS has continued to facilitate such growth, and how it impacts South to South Cooperation.