South Africa in the BRICS: Soft Power Balancing and Instrumentalization

Authors

Hany Besada, University of Ottawa & Institute of African Studies Carleton UniversityFollow
Evren Tok Ph.D., Hamad Bin Khalifa University Qatar FoundationFollow

Abstract

This paper investigates South Africa’s participation in the BRICS formation and the implications of its inclusion for the country, the continent, and global governance. It argues that by joining the BRICS grouping, South Africa is reinforcing neoliberalism in Africa, with markets being liberalized across the continent, trade and investment becoming the focus, and social and environmental protection remaining a distant concern. Meanwhile, other countries, particularly China and Russia, are instrumentalizing the forum to get what they want out of African countries without formalizing the grouping’s policies and effecting change to global institutions at the global level, as was initially promised. The paper applies the concept of soft balancing strategy to demonstrate that the BRICS grouping is an economic cooperation forum, not a political cooperation forum, which explains the aforementioned consequences.

Recommended Citation

Besada, Hany and Tok, Evren Ph.D. (2014) "South Africa in the BRICS: Soft Power Balancing and Instrumentalization," Journal of International and Global Studies: Vol. 5: No. 2, Article 5.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.62608/2158-0669.1190
Available at: https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/jigs/vol5/iss2/5

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