ABSTRACT
The collective rise of emerging economies is the most prominent phenomenon in the contemporary international economy and politics. Structural realism predicts competition among the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) countries because of their homogeneity, which is determined by the international political structure and is therefore inevitable. The BRICS countries also face competition for resources. The institutional setting of the BRICS mechanism demonstrates the trend of multifaceted ties among the official, non-governmental and think-tank sectors, indicating that the member states set high expectations for the future of the BRICS mechanism. The emergence and development of the BRICS cooperation mechanism is not only the need for emerging economies to cope with global common problems, but also the result of their confrontation with the Western developed countries. The competition between the BRICS countries for energy and other resources will be inevitable.