Neo – Liberal Institutionalism and BRICS: Assessing the Role of BRICS in Facilitating New Memberships

Abstract

This study examines the role of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) in transforming global governance via the prism of neoliberal institutionalism. It assesses how BRICS' governance structures and expansion strategies align with neoliberal institutionalist ideas. The study employs qualitative techniques by using comparative analyses and carries out assessments of secondary data such as BRICS communiqués, academic literature and case studies. It also identifies substantial hurdles, such as internal economic and political differences, geopolitical tensions and a lack of structured governance mechanisms. The findings show that even if BRICS reflects important aspects of institutionalist reasoning, long-term cohesiveness is threatened by its informality, internal power imbalances, and absence of official enforcement measures. Conclusively, BRICS is a hybrid institutional model that helps decentralize global authority and broadens the scope of neoliberal institutionalism's applicability to non-Western, plurilateral international relations arrangements. The study provides strategic proposals for enhancing BRICS governance by filling gaps in the available literature.