In a column last year about what was then still the proposed expansion of the BRICS organization, I ended by saying, “For Brazil, India and South Africa, the priority will be to make sure that new members don’t just serve as allies of China or friends of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, but rather contribute to their visions of alternative global governance. They will also seek to ensure that they themselves do not lose influence to the new states that enter.”
When BRICS met last week in Kazan, Russia, it appeared that Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping had won the initial debate on both counts. Four new members—the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia—attended the summit with full voting rights.
The entrance of the new member states shifted the balance of power within BRICS away from electoral democracies and increased the perception that the bloc is a club of autocrats aligned with China and Russia. While India’s giant economy and population mean it carries influence wherever it goes, the new members also diluted the overall influence that Brazil and South Africa have in the organization as well.