Given their immense potential for development and representation of a new international political and economic order, the BRICS countries have become a strong nascent force on the global stage. However, as overall economic growth continues to slow down, and the geopolitical situation becomes more complex, the BRICS countries are facing a series of new challenges that require further development in the way they cooperate with one another. This volume offers a panoramic view of cooperation between the BRICS countries in the light of these new challenges. The editors reveal that policy coordination has been strengthened, bringing into play complementary advantages as viable ways for promoting robust, sustainable, and balanced growth in the world economy. They argue that the experience gained, and lessons learned in the development of and cooperation between the BRICS countries has offered a positive role model for cooperation between other countries as well as providing valuable lessons for research in international politics. Students and scholars in international relations and politics will benefit from this volume.

This book examines the direction of the BRICS association. Beginning with historical analyses of the broader Global South and the fundamental composition of the BRICS countries and then moving on to present trends, The BRICS Order evaluates the variables that will influence the association’s future. While the BRICS as a forum emerged as a result of the visible fragmentation of the post-1945 world order, it itself remains dogged by issues emanating from internal divergences among member states and from external factors. The contributors interrogate the extent to which this formation of “emerging economies” is indicative of a challenge to the West, or in fact a complimentary relation. Integral to these studies – which encompass examinations of such diverse areas as governance systems, issues in bilateral relations, security threats, multilateral institution building, the transnational creation and dissemination of knowledge, and technological innovation – are patterns of convergence and divergence which render the countries not a formal alliance, but as signifiers of a multilateral future in which the West is itself to become more heterogeneous and thus become occasionally complemented depending on the vacillating consensus within the BRICS association and on the interests of the BRICS countries at different points in time.

This is a study of higher education in the world's four largest developing economies—Brazil, Russia, India, and China. Already important players globally, by mid-century, they are likely to be economic powerhouses. But whether they reach that level of development will depend in part on how successfully they create quality higher education that puts their labor forces at the cutting edge of the information society. Using an empirical, comparative approach, this book develops a broad picture of the higher education system in each country in the context of both global and local forces. The authors offer insights into how differing socioeconomic and historic patterns of change and political contexts influence developments in higher education. In asking why each state takes the approach that it does, this work situates a discussion of university expansion and quality in the context of governments' educational policies and reflects on the larger struggles over social goals and the distribution of national resources.

This is the first book to critically analyze the future of higher education systems in the four BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China - and the USA, analyzing academic salaries, contracts and working conditions and how national policy will affect the academic profession in each context.

A critical examination of the contradictory rise to power of emerging economies Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

Analyzes the relationship between the state and the development of the national system of innovation. Combining original data and expert analysis, shares experiences and knowledge that may impact how we understand the theory of innovation systems, and implement policies and strategies for their economic development.

The main thesis of this book is that, given that South African education faces major challenges, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) constellation of states offers — thus far overlooked — a valuable tertium comparationis, a source of international comparative perspectives, to inform the domestic scholarly discourse on education. This book first investigates the national contexts and development of education in the BRICS countries, arguing that this grouping represents a valuable but yet overlooked field for illuminating South African education issues with international perspectives. The book consists of chapters arguing for and illustrating this thesis from a variety of angles. Common to all chapters is that authors used the comparative method in education, that is comparing the national education system, in their education societal context interrelationships, of the BRICS countries. The chapters focus on a number of critical issues in South African education, including the language of learning and teaching issue, the alignment of the world of education with the world of work, early childhood education, and the development of world-class universities. Regarding the last, for example, China has been the terrain of the most intensive national projects of establishing world-class universities, with Project 985, Project 211, and the “Double First Class University” project. The chapters demonstrate what South Africa, in approaching her education issues, can learn from the experience of the BRICS countries.

The BRICS in the New International Legal Order on Investment: Reformers or Disruptors is written by international experts with BRICS backgrounds. The book investigates why and how the BRICS countries modernize their approach to the investment treaty regime. The chapters are organized by BRICS countries and discuss whether they can develop a common approach to investment treaties as well as what these countries will bring to the investment treaty regime in the future. The volume provides important perspectives on how the BRICS, an emerging power hub in international society, engage in the international legal order.

This volume analyses the relationship between the state and the evolution of the national systems of innovation in the five BRICS countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and, South Africa, putting forward several valuable considerations and policy recommendations.

Once among the fastest developing economies, growth has slowed or stalled in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. What policies can governments enact to jump-start the rise of these middle-income countries? Hartmut Elsenhans and Salvatore Babones argue that economic catch-up requires investment in the productivity of ordinary citizens. Diverging from the popular narrative of increased liberalization, this book argues specifically for direct government investment in human infrastructure; policies that increase wages and the bargaining power of labor; and the strategic use of exchange rates to encourage export-led growth. These measures raise up the majority and finance future productivity by driving broader consumption and fostering investment within national borders. Though strategies like full employment, mass education, and progressive taxation are not especially controversial, none of the BRICS have truly embraced them. Examining barriers to implementation, Elsenhans and Babones find that the main obstacle to such reforms is an absence of political will, stemming from closely guarded elite privilege under the current laws. BRICS or Bust? is a short, incisive read that underscores the need for demand-driven growth and why it has yet to be achieved.