Abstract

The rise of the BRICS - a bloc of emerging economies, comprised of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is one of the defining features of the modern global economy.

This book explores these nations, which seem to be growing at a much faster rate than the developed nations of the Eurozone and North America. Will they drag the developed world out of the economic mire? Will they force social change and innovation into the tired 'old world order'? And politically, do they herald a new dawn for democracy or do they represent a continued political repression?

This edited collection answers these questions by offering critical analysis of the rise of the BRICS economies within the framework of a predatory, exclusionary and unequal global capitalism. From Chinese oil geopolitics to the ruinous 'mega-events' in Brazil, the authors provide a new, radical way of understanding these controversial developments.
'A uniquely valuable resource written by a stellar group of authors. They pierce through every aspect of the discourse around the BRICS, showing the reality beneath the politically engineered triumphalism.'
Alfredo Saad-Filho, Professor of Political Economy, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
"This book is the most significant work yet published to examine these issues through a critical lens. It features essays from leading leftist scholars across the world such as Patrick Bond, Immanuel Wallerstein, Leo Panitch, William Robinson, Elmar Altvater, and Vijay Prashad, among many others ... The authors document the currently existing positions on the BRICS: from those who celebrate it, are cautious of it, to those who criticize it. It provides a useful and comprehensive overview of the current state of debate on the topic and provides a clear way to introduce the volume.'
James Parisot, Marx & Philosophy Review of Books