The Financial Statecraft of the BRICS: Can Democracies Like Brazil Partner with China?

• In Event: New Dilemmas of the International Financial Architecture

Abstract

Rising multipolarity in the interstate system has been propelled by the extraordinary economic capabilities of emerging powers over the past three decades. This paper explores the use of varieties of financial statecraft (FS) by the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) in the early 21st century. Each of these states has deployed credit and monetary swords and shields--unilaterally, bilaterally, (e.g. generous financial contracts for Russia to supply China with natural gas), and collectively (e.g. BRICS’ leaders in concert supporting renminbi internationalization, or most recently by formally inaugurating the BRICS development bank). Noting that most of their ambitious joint financial initiatives, and particularly their collective efforts at securing IMF quota increases, thus far have yielded little, we ask whether the realm of FS can help each BRICS government to secure influence in global financial governance, and if the BRICS club will be able to cohere. Given the predominance of China among the BRICS, the paper examines China’s FS tactics in contrast to those of the others, as well as cooperation and competition among the other four BRICS. How has the normative and symbolic appeal of BRICS membership led the other four to respond to China’s rise and its FS?

Author

• Leslie Elliott Armijo, Portland State University