he 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.

Contributors: Elmar Altvater, Baruti Amisi, Patrick Bond, Omar Bonilla, Einar Braathen, Pedro Henrique Campos, Ruslan Dzarasov, Virginia Fontes, Ana Garcia, Ho-fung Hung, Richard Kamidza, Karina Kato, Claudio Katz, Mathias Luce, Farai Maguwu, Judith Marshall, Gilmar Mascarenhas, Sam Moyo, Leo Panitch, Bobby Peek, Gonzalo Pozo, Vijay Prashad, Niall Reddy, William Robinson, Susanne Soederberg, Celina Sørbøe, Achin Vanaik, Immanuel Wallerstein and Paris Yeros.

“This book is a uniquely valuable resource for development scholars, students and activists. It includes outstanding contributions written by a stellar group of authors. They pierce through every aspect of the discourse around the BRICS, showing the reality beneath the politically engineered triumphalism.”
—Alfredo Saad-Filho, Professor of Political Economy, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

“Should we celebrate the rise of the BRICS as an alternative to western imperialism? Or condemn the involved states for failing to provide an alternative to the unfettered domination of global neoliberalism, but simply modifying its form? This book is the most significant work yet published to examine these issues through a critical lens…BRICS: An Anti-Capitalist Alternative is required reading for anyone concerned about what the development of the BRICS means for the global proletariat, and for the structure of the capitalist world order more generally”
—James Parisot, Marx and Philosophy Review of Books

“This book is a uniquely valuable resource for development scholars, students and activists. It includes outstanding contributions written by a stellar group of authors. They pierce through every aspect of the discourse around the BRICS, showing the reality beneath the politically engineered triumphalism.”
—Alfredo Saad-Filho, Professor of Political Economy, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

“Should we celebrate the rise of the BRICS as an alternative to western imperialism? Or condemn the involved states for failing to provide an alternative to the unfettered domination of global neoliberalism, but simply modifying its form? This book is the most significant work yet published to examine these issues through a critical lens…BRICS: An Anti-Capitalist Alternative is required reading for anyone concerned about what the development of the BRICS means for the global proletariat, and for the structure of the capitalist world order more generally”
—James Parisot, Marx and Philosophy Review of Books

Ana Garcia teaches history and international relations at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro and is an associate of the Institute of Alternative Policies in the Southern Cone of Latin America.

Patrick Bond, based in South Africa since 1990 mainly at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and Wits University, recently authored Elite Transition (third edition), South Africa: The Present as History (coauthored with John Saul) and Politics of Climate Justice.