BEYOND AMERICAN-CENTRIC ORDER: MULTIPOLAR TRANSITION AND BRICS

Abstract

Beneath the surface of the triumph of the Western way of life, celebrated after the end of the Cold War, the “mole” of the de-Westernization of the world was burrowing: demographic changes, the “great convergence” of developing countries, and the struggle of former colonial states for recognition and emancipation. The systemic economic and financial crisis, the pandemic emergency, and the war in Ukraine, which can be interpreted as a proxy war between NATO and Russia, have accelerated the “organic crisis” of the American-centric order. In this interregnum, which is still struggling to generate a new multipolar order, the political project of the BRICS raises a crucial question: are the BRICS merely another bloc operating within the logic of power politics, or do they prefigure, at least potentially, an alternative development model to dominant neoliberalism?

Keywords: American-centric order; multipolarism; BRICS; organic crisis; neoliberalism.