• Provides an informative, analytical and comprehensive overview of the BRICS
• Addresses a wide range of issues concerning the BRICS in our contemporary political landscape
• Offers an explanation of what the BRICS have been able to accomplish as a hybrid club, forum, and lobby group in global politics, and their potential trajectory going forwards

    
In the wake of the post-Cold War era, the aftermath of 9/11, the 2008 global financial crisis, and the emergence of the G20 at the leaders level, few commentators expected a reshaping of the global system towards multipolarity, and away from the United States. And yet, the BRICS - encompassing Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - has emerged as a challenge to the international status quo. But what is its capacity as a transformative force? And can it provide a significant counter-narrative to the Western dominated global order? 
   
In this Very Short Introduction Andrew Cooper explores the emergence of the BRICS as a concept. Drawing on historical precedent, Cooper provides a contemporary analysis of the BRICS' practice and influence as as a forum and a lobby group in advancing a distinctive but amorphous agenda amongst global politics.