ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) has been advancing an alternative model for international governance, one that replicates to a great extent the existing order of which it is a part. The political dynamics among the BRICS members are pursued both competitively and cooperatively, with geostrategic and political-economic issues on the agenda. The BRICS has been cooperating with existing structures and accommodating alternative projects in such a way that both it and its agenda have been gradually incorporated into the global governance. The chapter also argues that actorness, by BRICS countries individually or multilaterally, and by the BRICS as "club diplomacy", reveals fundamental dynamics to help analysts understand shifting configurations of power and their reach. The new discourse highlighting the anti-hegemonic nature of the BRICS in pursuing an alternative global order, where rules and binding agreements become less hierarchical and more inclusive, might push for reforming and redesigning institutions and principles.
