BRICS Expansion and its Challenges to the Global Economic Order

Abstract

The Global Economic Order, has largely been dominated by World Bank and the International Monetary Funds (IMF) and this has been the status quo since the end of the cold war in 19991. However the emergence of the BRICS a coalition of sub regional hegemonies; Brazil, Russia, India China and South Africa, have combined forces to contend with the existing Bretton Woods institutions that has remained the dominant world hegemony. This research, therefore, examines how BRICS’s expansion threatens Western dominance in global finance and trade, using the Hegemonic Stability theory to explain the dynamics of shifting from a unipolar economic order. The qualitative research methodology was used and data were sourced from secondary sources. The research reveals that BRICS expansion pose serious internal and external challenges to the global economic order. Internally, geopolitical rivalry between the member states, economic power imbalances within the region and policy incoherence will hinder unity within the coalition. Externally, the desire to counter balance the western dominated institutions could lead to a push back which will likely result into severe rivalry and instability in the global economic order. To mitigate these challenges, the study recommends that BRICS should focus on enhancing intra-BRICS trade and investment, fostering internal cohesion, and expanding alternative financial institutions for its economic independence and to foster global economic stability.