The development and specifics of cooperation and importance of Brazil's membership in BRICS

The authors investigate the reasons and importance of Brazil's entrance to BRICS. They analyze a role of Brazil in the international regional integration associations and its key position on the Latin American continent. It was found that creating a nationally oriented model of development based on encouraging internal  consumer demand, reduction of poverty and illiteracy, has led to high success: GDP growth, rising middle class and development of aircraft construction, deepwater drilling technology, biotechnology, development of unconventional energy. Brazil can claim to be a leader of the Latin American continent and a powerful member of the BRICS. It is important to remember that Brazil’s discovery of oil on the continental shelf and the contiguous zone was quite significant. This event enables Brazil to enter the top ten oil exporting countries by 2025.

It has been revealed that since Brazil is “a beginner” in the global politics, the basis of its foreign policy  is to strengthen its positioning based on regional ties. In the past decade, Brazil have been directing almost all its large-scale regional initiatives to implement and consolidate this position. It was found that creation of the South American Union of Nations (“Unasur”) replaced the Organisation of American States.

The authors also analye main features of the relationship with members of BRICS and prospects of this cooperation. Existence of closer “communion” between Brazil, South Africa and India has been revealed. Three member states of BRICS share common history of colonial or semi-colonial development, fight against “hegemony”, “third world” paradigm convergence, “democratic solidarity”. However, Russia and China were perceived by them differently: Russia was considered as a former European imperialist state with distinct drawbacks of democratic regime; China – as a rising superpower with a new authoritarian system of government.