The BRICS formation—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—has been operating since 2008 on a continuous basis and became early on a permanent and widely recognized feature of the international political and economic landscape. This was hardly surprising since it comprises five of the most important emerging market countries. The four original members, together with the United States, are among the group of only five countries that are on the lists of 10 largest territories, populations, and GDPs of the world. South Africa, which joined the group in 2011, is one of the most important countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

This book begins with an overview of the BRICS as a cooperation mechanism from 2008 to the present days, examining its strong points and weaknesses. Emphasis is placed on economic and financial aspects, and especially on international governance issues, one of the most important original reasons for the creation of the BRICS. The overview describes how the BRICS were formed, their common traits, and challenges that arose during coordination efforts among the four and later five countries, including disclosure of episodes that illustrate the nature of the difficulties we encountered along the way. BRICS coordination in the IMF and some observations on the future of the group are also provided in the book, against the background of a world fractured by geopolitical tensions, and marked by the crisis of multilateralism, growing concerns with climate challenges, and the pandemic of 2020.

Since its creation 12 years ago, the BRICS have gone through different phases. Viewed from the angle of financial cooperation—the one adopted in this book—three broad phases can be distinguished. In the first phase, from 2008 to 2011, the BRICS focused mainly on working together in the G20, the IMF, and the World Bank to attempt to bring about a reform of the international financial architecture, and especially of the Bretton Woods institutions. This seemed to work well initially with the displacement of the G7 by the G20 as the main forum for international economic and financial cooperation and given the commitments made at the G20 to reform the IMF and the World Bank. Some progress was made in the IMF, notably in the 2010 quota and governance reform.