BRICS Releases Manifesto for New World Order
The Kazan Declaration released this week suggests that the BRICS – in its expanded composition – is prepared to start a fresh chapter in its history. The declaration, which is the most comprehensive document ever adopted as a result of the group’s summits, will attract significant interest in political and academic circles globally, and likely draw criticism from BRICS opponents.
The group has for the first time detailed its joint vision of the current state of the international system. The Kazan Declaration is a substantial document containing 134 paragraphs, some of which are quite lengthy. This is a significant increase from the 94 paragraphs in the statement adopted at the previous summit in Johannesburg in August 2023, and the 75 paragraphs in the document adopted in Beijing in July 2022. This trend reflects the gradual increase in the intensity of the group’s engagement and the broadening of the substantive scope of its multilateral cooperation.
Contents of the Kazan Declaration
The Kazan Declaration is divided into a preamble and four sections dealing with strengthening multilateralism, global and regional security, financial and economic cooperation, and humanitarian exchanges. This division aligns with the priorities of the Russian chairmanship announced a year ago.
The declaration details the group’s shared vision of the current state of the international system, common or overlapping approaches to the fundamental global problems of our time and to acute regional crises, and the contours of a desirable and achievable world order as the members of the group currently see it. While the document does not provide specific timetables for individual tasks or roadmaps for specific areas of work, it does cover a number of key objectives that the group should or could pursue over the next few years.
Maintaining a Balance
The declaration maintains a clear balance between the security and development agendas, suggesting that the group has intentionally chosen to maintain its broad mandate and will not focus its future activities on a single area, such as promoting trade among the group’s members. BRICS plans to position itself as a multitasking laboratory of global governance, where new algorithms of multilateral cooperation and innovative models for solving the world’s major economic and political problems can be tested.
Development Issues
On development issues, the BRICS faces a difficult choice between trying to achieve reforms of the existing, largely Western-oriented international economic and monetary institutions and trying to create effective alternatives to these institutions under their own common umbrella. The declaration suggests that the intention is to maximize both opportunities.
Security Issues
Security issues remain very sensitive for most of the BRICS member countries, and the declaration devotes most of its attention to them. It is clear that, at least in some conflict situations, members of the group could easily find themselves on different sides of the barricades. The declaration calls for conflict resolution through dialogue and diplomacy.
Future Considerations
The group decided that some of the more sensitive or technically challenging issues should be further considered and explored in more detail. Such issues include the Russian proposal for BRICS Clear, a system for trading securities without the associated conversion into dollars, and proposals to modernize transport and logistics infrastructure within the BRICS grouping.
Bottom Line
Overall, the Kazan Declaration suggests that the enlarged BRICS group is ready to open a new chapter in its history. It is clear that BRICS is not an anti-Western alliance, and the group is not seeking to deliberately undermine or destroy Western institutions. The group is capable of claiming, and is already openly doing so, a new, more prominent role in global governance and in defining the parameters of the new world order.
The Kazan Declaration will likely receive a great deal of attention in both political and academic circles around the world, and it will receive its fair share of criticism from skeptics and opponents of BRICS. What are your thoughts on this development? Feel free to share this article with your friends and discuss. Don't forget to sign up for the Daily Briefing, which is available every day at 6pm.
