The Expansion of Brics And the Emerging Geopolitical Polarization: India’s Strategic Position

Аннотация

This article investigates the expansion of BRICS and its implications for India’s geopolitical position and foreign policy. The article focuses on the formal adoption of the BRICS+ model at the 2023 Johannesburg Summit, where six new nations—Saudi Arabia, Iran, the UAE, Egypt, Argentina, and Ethiopia—were invited to join the bloc. India’s approach to this expansion is analyzed through its doctrine of strategic autonomy, which emphasizes cautious engagement, consensus-driven decision-making, and the preservation of BRICS as a platform for the Global South. While India supports the enlargement for enhancing regional cooperation and energy security, it is cautious about the increasing influence of China within the bloc. The article further examines India’s strategic interests, including energy security, financial multipolarity, and climate cooperation, and discusses the potential risks and opportunities resulting from the inclusion of new BRICS members. The analysis reveals that India’s participation in BRICS+ is driven by a pragmatic desire to ensure a balanced and inclusive global order while countering the dominance of any single power. Ultimately, India’s involvement in the BRICS expansion reflects its broader ambitions of advancing South-South cooperation and shaping a more equitable international system in the context of an increasingly multipolar world. Keywords: BRICS, BRICS+ expansion, India, strategic autonomy, geopolitical dynamics, energy security, financial multipolarity, China, global governance, South-South cooperation, climate change, diplomatic strategy, international relations. Introduction: The 21st century has witnessed a The expansion of BRICS must be situated within the paradigmatic shift in the international system, with broader context of an intensifying geopolitical global power progressively diffusing from the polarization. Following the COVID-19 pandemic and the transatlantic axis to multiple centers across Asia, Africa, Russia–Ukraine war, the liberal international order has and Latin America. The relative decline of Western come under unprecedented strain, giving rise to new hegemony and the perceived inadequacies of configurations of power based on shared economic, institutions like the United Nations, the World Bank, political, and ideological grievances. The enlarged and the International Monetary Fund have catalyzed BRICS coalition now includes members with divergent the emergence of alternative multilateral forums. political systems, regional affiliations, and strategic Among these, BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South goals, yet they share a common aspiration: to reform Africa) has garnered increasing attention as a vehicle the architecture of global governance to better reflect for promoting the interests of the Global South and the multipolar realities of the 21st century. This challenging the dominance of Western-centric global aspiration, however, is fraught with contradictions, governance frameworks. The group’s formal expansion particularly as intra-group asymmetries and rivalries— in August 2023, which saw the admission of Argentina, such as those between India and China—threaten the Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab coherence of the bloc. Emirates, marks a significant milestone in its India’s positioning within this evolving framework is institutional evolution and geopolitical relevance. both strategic and ambivalent. As one of the founding American Journal Of Social Sciences And Humanity Research 30 https://theusajournals.com/index.php/ajsshr American Journal Of Social Sciences And Humanity Research (ISSN: 2771-2141) members of BRICS, India has played a pivotal role in strategic choices are shaped by a confluence of regional shaping the group’s normative discourse around dynamics, global rivalries, and domestic imperatives. multipolarity, development, and South-South By critically examining India's position in the expanded cooperation. Yet, India’s foreign policy calculus remains BRICS architecture, this article offers insights into the rooted in a commitment to strategic autonomy, a challenges and prospects of multipolar global principle that compels it to simultaneously engage with governance. Western-led alliances such as the Quad (Quadrilateral METHODS Security Dialogue), I2U2 (India–Israel–UAE–USA This study adopts a qualitative research design, partnership), and its comprehensive strategic leveraging comparative geopolitical analysis to partnership with the United States. India’s participation examine India’s strategic positioning within the in both Western and non-Western multilateral evolving global order. The research approach is arrangements underscores a deliberate hedging interdisciplinary, integrating elements of political strategy aimed at maximizing geopolitical flexibility science, international relations theory, and area studies while safeguarding national interests in a volatile to provide a comprehensive understanding