Notwithstanding their disparate political systems, geographic regions, and capabilities, each of the five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) has since 2006 found increasing reasons to align its international monetary and financial policies with the others. When the global financial crisis of 2008-2009 hit, they were jointly positioned to demand from the status quo Western powers greater voice in global financial governance as a quid pro quo for their contributions to the coordinated and successful G20 economic stimulus.

These emerging powers, but especially China, have achieved enhanced voice and votes within established institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. They also have created their own new institutions, such as the NDB and AIIB, each of which will structure projects to stimulate public-private infrastructure investment in the developing world.

The most problematic relationship among the five BRICS is that between the two Asian giants: China and India. They are commercial and sometimes political partners, yet also geostrategic competitors. How does this play out going forward, and how might it affect the environment for international business?

Leslie Armijo considers the complex China-India relationship in the context of their ongoing and surprisingly successful BRICS collaboration.

Leslie Elliott Armijo, Associate Professor of International Studies as SFU, is author or editor, most recently, of The BRICS and Collective Financial Statecraft (with C. Roberts & S. Katada, OUP 2018), Unexpected Outcomes: How Emerging Powers Survived the Global Financial Crisis (with C. Wise & S. Katada, Brookings 2016), and The Financial Statecraft of Emerging Powers: Shield and Sword in Asia and Latin America (with S. Katada, Palgrave 2014).