The BRICS, actors in the preparation of an alternative to the unipolar model in crisis

Prof. Bruno DRWESKI

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Executive summary: During the East-West bipolarity, non-alignment allowed Third World countries to take advantage of the contradictions between great powers, promoting anti-colonial struggles and promoting a new international economic order based on the right to development. The end of this dynamic is explained by the fragmentation of emancipation forces, the global centralization of capital to the benefit of the Western bloc and the consolidation of a unipolar world dominated by the United States. Recent decisions of the UN Security Council, particularly on Gaza, illustrate the return of neocolonial practices, revealing the current inability of alternative structures to compete politically with the “collective West”. However, in the long term, BRICS contributes to the progressive erosion of American hegemony through monetary, commercial and technological diversification, as well as through the emergence of new South-South partnerships, including among states previously aligned with the West. Neocolonialism has been rooted in social structures inherited from colonialism, promoting the rise of comprador bourgeoisies and corruption, a phenomenon reinforced after the collapse of the socialist camp and the generalization of neoliberal capitalism. Unlike the national liberation movements of the twentieth century, the current multipolarity is no longer driven by mass popular mobilization, but by state and economic elites, which explains the ambiguity and geopolitical prudence of many BRICS states in contemporary conflicts. BRICS is therefore not a real systemic alternative to global capitalism in crisis, but a partial counterweight that prepares, without guaranteeing it, a new international order. Their transformative potential will depend on the reconstitution of mobilized social forces capable of imposing coherent political, economic and civilizational projects, exceeding the current limits of multipolarity.

Keywords: BRICS, unipolarity, multipolarity, bipolarity, Third World, anticolonial struggles, right to development, West, United States, UN Security Council, neocolonialism, hegemony, diversification, South-South partnerships, bourgeoisies comprador, corruption, neoliberal capitalism, popular masses, elite, geopolitical, crisis, new international order.

Abstract: During the East–West bipolar era, non-alignment allowed Third World countries to capitalize on the contradictions between great powers, fostering anti-colonial struggles and promoting a new international economic order based on the right to development. The end of this dynamic can be explained by the fragmentation of emancipatory forces, the global centralization of capital in favor of the Western bloc, and the consolidation of a unipolar world dominated by the United States. Recent decisions by the UN Security Council, particularly looking at Gaza, illustrious the return of neo-colonial practices, demonstrating the current inability of alternative structures to compete politically with the collective West. Neocolonialism has taken root in social structures inherited from colonialism, fostering the rise of comprador bourgeoisies and corruption, a phenomenon exacerbated after the collapse of the socialist bloc and the spread of neoliberal capitalism. Unlike the national liberation movements of the 20th century, contemporary multipolarity is no longer driving by mass popular mobility, but by state and economic elites. This explains the ambiguity and geopolitical surety of many BRICS states in contemporary conflicts. The BRICS instead do not constitute a genuine systemic alternative to crisis-ridden global capitalism, but rather a partial counterweight that prepares, without guaranteeing it, a new international order. Their transformative potential will depend on the reconstitution of movable social forces capable of imposing coherent political, economic, and civilizational projects that transcend the current limitations of multipolarity.

Key-words: BRICS, unipolarity, multipolarity, bipolarity, Third World, anti-colonial struggles, right to development, West, United States, UN Security Council, neocolonialism, hegemony, diversification, South–South partnerships, comprador bourgeoisies, corruption, neoiberal capitalism, popular masses, elites, geopolitics, crisis, new international order.