BRICS: An Anticapitalist Critique

The emergence of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa on a global stage has upset the dominance of the United States as the world’s only superpower. But can they chart a path toward a more just global economy? This collection, which brings together leading political economists from around the world, argues that the BRICS are actually amplifying some of the worst features of international capitalism.

This book aims to fill a gap in studies of the BRICS grouping of countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). It provides a critical analysis of their economies, societies and geopolitical strategies within the framework of a global capitalism that is increasingly predatory, unequal and ecologically self-destructive — no more so than in the BRICS countries themselves.

In unprecedented detail and with great innovation, the contributors consider theoretical traditions in political economy as applied to the BRICS, including “sub-imperialism,” the World System perspective and dynamics of territorial expansion. Only such an approach can interpret the potential for a “brics-from-below” uprising that appears likely to accompany the rise of the BRICS.