Although Brazil is the first country in the BRICS acronym, it is not the most powerful member of the group. It has a smaller economy than those of Russia, China, and India, and it also lacks nuclear weapons. But because for years BRICS remained small and exclusive, adding only South Africa, Brazil enjoyed internal influence.
That could all change as BRICS experiences a growth spurt. Four countries joined the group in January—Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates—with more in line. China has long sought to expand BRICS to boost its influence, and the group’s growing use of non-dollar currencies became more attractive to some countries in the wake of Western sanctions on Russia.
Cuba and Bolivia are reportedly on the list of 13 new BRICS partner countries announced Wednesday, as well as NATO member Turkey, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Partner status is not the same as full membership in BRICS, but it could be a doorway to it in the future.
While growing interest in BRICS accession increases the group’s clout, expansion also stands to diminish Brazil’s sway. Not only that—the addition of U.S. antagonist Iran complicated Brazil’s longtime claim that the bloc was “not against anyone,” as Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira said this week, but rather in favor of correcting inequities in the international system.
“At present, the group is torn,” Jorge Heine and Ariel González Levaggi wrote this week in Foreign Policy. “China and Russia would like to build it into an anti-Western entity, while Brazil, India, and South Africa would prefer it to take a stance closer to nonalignment.”
