Joint website of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the BRICS member States
Brazil
Luis Inacio Lula da Silva
The President of Brazil
Russia
Vladimir Putin
President of the Russian Federation
India
Narendra Modi
Prime Minister of India
Сhina
Xi Jinping
President of the People's Republic of China
South Africa
Cyril Ramaphosa
The President of South Africa
Egypt
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
President of Egypt
Ethiopia
Abiy Ahmed Ali
Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Iran
Massoud Pezeshkian
The President of Iran
UAE
Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan
President of the UAE
Indonesia
Prabowo Subianto
President of Indonesia
Consistent or Confused? SA Knows Why It Joined BRICS Alliance
South Africa knows why it joined the BRICS alliance. It knows the current dominant capitalist system is not the panacea of all our global problems. It also understands international relations and foreign policy politics require compromise and diplomacy, not rigidity, writes Oscar van Heerden
Tuesday, March 28, 2023

By Oscar van Heerden

Is the BRICS grouping a principled alliance, and if so, based on what or is it a loose economic relationship with which objectives? This is the most pertinent question for me when looking at South Africa's foreign policy.

Anyone who studied international relations will tell you a country's foreign policy is but an extension of its domestic policies or as former British prime minister William Gladstone stated, "Here is my first principle of foreign policy, good government at home".

In the early 2000s, the South African government decided to form part of an alliance namely IBSA, which was India, Brazil, and South Africa. It was established in 2003.

One could argue this was premised, among other factors, on the basic principle that all three countries practised a western-style democracy. In 2009, China, Russia, India, and Brazil formed BRIC. South Africa joined in 2010.

South Africa's membership to the BRICS alliance makes a clear break from this basic principle because the system of government in China and Russia is somewhat different from the West.

It must be stated though, that these systems though different from a western democracy, are completely acceptable to the Chinese and Russian people.

So, if we are not concerned with the governance systems in our respective countries, then the alliance must be premised on something else. But before we delve into that matter, let's just ask why China insisted on South Africa getting a membership as opposed to any other African country.

A new global order?

Many pundits still wonder about South Africa's inclusion into the grouping simply because it is not a dominant emerging economy, unlike the other four members. So, why its inclusion?

Well, for starters, I think we can all agree the inclusion of a country from the African continent was imperative lest this grouping again commits the same atrocity of excluding Africa from the world stage. So, why South Africa then you might wonder.

Well, even though South Africa no longer has the title of the largest economy in Africa (that would be Nigeria), it does have the most diverse economy. In other words, not reliant on only one commodity.

It is backed up with a sound financial sector and an infrastructure par excellence (airports, harbours, and road networks). There is also excellent communication technology in place and a stable outlook in terms of its constitutional democracy. For all these reasons, me thinks, the obvious choice would have been South Africa.

Now, let's get back to why this alliance and what it is premised upon?

We must ask why the grouping decided to establish a new development bank, with each country bankrolling the base funds for the bank. Surely, the countries could have made use of established international development banks such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. They chose not to. Why?

Is it perhaps because the IMF with its structural adjustment programmes and dictatorial behaviour has begun to irritate lenders from the developing world. Or perhaps the interference on domestic politics before and after loans are made available from the World Bank. All of which is designed to ensure that developing economies remain in a debt trap and beholden to these institutions.

BRICS is not a military alliance, but joint military exercises do take place between members from time to time. Trade among the members is preferential and has increased all round as well.

Could it be that the stated objectives of the alliance are to envision a new global order? One that moves us all away from a unipolar global hegemon, where everyone else gets bullied and told what to do on the one hand and on the other hand, one that reconfigures a world order away from western domination where the haves remain in the collective west and the have nots in the collective east and global south.

And if this is the objective of the BRICS countries and so many others now want to join the alliance in pursuit of this righteous agenda, then we can ill afford for our foreign policy to be confused.

Serve our interests first

We must be clear this new global order - this multilateral international order - is what we will principally fight for.

It means as South Africa, we serve our national interests first and foremost. This means keeping good trade relations with both the US and China as well as with the EU.

It means that we keep good relations and solidarity with the peoples of Palestine, Cuba, and Western Sahara. It means that in a war, we keep our non-alignment posture and do not get swayed from it, not through bullying nor through threats. And finally, we fought, perished, and died to attain our sovereignty which means that we will never compromise on it.

The world is changing and changing fast, and we must change with it.

This is never an easy task, as political theorist Michael Oakshott reminds us, "In political activity, then, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea; there is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting point nor appointed destination. The enterprise is to keep afloat on an even keel; the sea is both friend and enemy; and the seamanship consists in using the resources of a traditional manner of behaviour in order to make a friend of every hostile occasion."

South Africa knows why it joined the BRICS alliance; it is not confused. It knows the current dominant capitalist system is not the panacea of all our global problems, far from it.

It also understands international relations and foreign policy politics require compromise and diplomacy, not rigidity. But most of all, the globe needs a genuine multilateral system that reflects the current global realities and not a post-World War Two reality.

I'm reminded of Joseph Joffe, the academic from Harvard University when he reflected on the US foreign policy and stated you either take a "Bismarck or Britain" approach. The question for South Africa is, should we animate the same idea? And if so, which approach will it be?

Dr Oscar van Heerden is a scholar of international relations (IR), where he focuses on international political economy, with an emphasis on Africa, and SADC in particular.

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