BRICS and Sustainable Development: A New Vision for the Global South

This chapter interrogates the evolving role of BRICS as a transformative coalition in catalyzing sustainable development across the Global South. Amid enduring asymmetries in global governance and the systemic inadequacies of Western-centric development paradigms, BRICS has increasingly asserted itself as a counter-hegemonic bloc championing inclusive growth, ecological sustainability, and enhanced South–South cooperation. The analysis offers a critical appraisal of the consortium’s collective vision, institutional mechanisms, and strategic undertakings— ranging from the establishment of the New Development Bank (NDB) to the construction of alternative financial architectures—designed to redress structural inequities, facilitate green transitions, and fortify developmental resilience among emerging economies. Employing a comparative and interdisciplinary framework, the study examines the extent to which BRICS member states reconcile national developmental imperatives with global sustainability norms, while concurrently contending with heterogeneous political economies and institutional divergences. It contends that, notwithstanding persistent challenges of coherence, institutional capacity, and policy coordination, BRICS articulates a nascent yet compelling paradigm for reimagining sustainable development through a Global South lens—anchored in the principles of equity, multipolarity, and mutual empowerment. The findings contribute substantively to the broader discourse on post-Western development trajectories and the reconfiguration of the global geoeconomic order.