ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that perhaps the Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS) paradox is not as much about BRICS as it is about the conflict between different theoretical conceptualizations of BRICS. India is in a more complicated situation: it simply cannot stay outside and leave the gate open for a Chinese hegemony in Asia and maybe even in the future global order. The diverse interests of its members make it complicated, if not impossible, for BRICS to define a coherent agenda and policy for changing the international order. BRICS Challenge Theory divides into two main lines of hypothesis: that BRICS poses, first, a challenge to the hierarchy between states in the current system, and, second, that it seeks to challenge the whole liberal international order. The BRICS policy of development finance is embodied by its two institutions, the New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement launched in 2016.
