The Geopolitics of BRICS 19Japan, Germany, Italy and Canada), which has, since the mid-1970’s, been
the support structure of American global leadership and the Jamaican
currency system, which determines the status of the US dollar as the
world’s reserve currency.
It is believed that an assertive BRICS would like to check their reliance
on the US dollar. As these countries’ confidence develops, they have
expressed the intention of bypassing the currency with regard to their
commercial relationship. At present the Five R’s (named for their
respective currencies: the Real, Ruble, Rupee, Rand and Renminbi) have
had little hesitation in accepting the Euro as a substitute currency for the
US dollar.^3
Movement from a Bipolar to a Multipolar World
The concept of “Polarity” within the study of international relations
describes the distribution and nature of power within the international
system at a specific point in time. Structures of Polarity are categorized as
being bipolar, unipolar, tri-polar or multipolar. From the period 1945 to
1991 the international system was seen as bipolar with the world divided
into two centers of power and with two opposing poles.^4 The two centers
of opposition (to each other) were dominated by the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics (USSR) and the United States of America (USA). This
Cold War period centered on ideological differences between the two
nations and their respective blocs. Following the collapse (both
ideologically and economically) of the USSR in 1991, the USA was left as
the only remaining world superpower. Hence, by pure circumstance, the
USA became the singular superpower in a new unipolar world and, “the
establishment of the unipolar world was seen as the triumph of capitalism”
of the West.^5
Many spectators see the world moving toward a multipolar international
system. Power–be it cultural, military or economic–has begun to evolve
within emerging economies. From a trade and general economic
perspective, various states are starting to materialize as emerging market
economies. In this regard the BRICS countries are seen as emerging
interlocutors within the international geopolitical landscape. The BRICS
countries are–by their very existence, their economic growth, and their
(^3) Essack, “New Players in the Global Economy.”
(^4) Wegner and Zimmerman, International Relations: From the Cold War to the
Globalised World, 50.
(^5) Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man.