The BRICs, State Capitalism and Globalization: Challenge to or Triumph of the West?

Abstract

This chapter examines the rise of the South, and more specifically the larger BRIC countries, by focusing on the development policies which facilitated their rise. It particularly focuses on the question of states and markets and their respective roles in the rise of the BRICs, and what lessons this might have for the South as a whole. The chapter starts by examining the argument that the rise of various parts of the South is less a challenge to, and more a triumph of, the West, and specifically the market friendly policies recommended by international institutions like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). This is done through an assessment of the case made for ‘neo-liberal’, ‘globalization friendly’ policies in the last thirty years. This section suggests some reasons why this case is problematic, which leads on to the second section, which examines the argument that the rise of the BRICs represents both a developmental and geopolitical challenge to the West. This is because of the rise of a state capitalist, Beijing-led alternative to the Washington Consensus. The third section examines this case in more depth, through an investigation of development in Brazil, Russia, India and China, particularly focusing on the role of the state and the market in these countries in recent years.