THE RETURN OF GEOPOLITICS: THE ASCENSION OF BRICS1

The sixth BRICS Summit, which took place in the Brazilian city of Fortaleza last July, by starting the second cycle of annual Meetings of Heads of State of five major developing nations of the world3, marked a qualitative leap of the alliance, which enters a new phase, strengthening the trend to a polycentric world. Decisions taken in Fortaleza, especially the creation of a BRICS Bank and Reserve Fund, to be discussed below, when implemented, will leverage the leeway of each member of the BRICS and all of them as a set, allowing greater autonomy of these countries in the international arena. Representing just over 40 % of the world population and nearly a quarter of the global economy, the BRICS are the object of attention by the originality and uniqueness of a grouping with these characteristics: it is the 1 This essay is an expanded version of a text that was crafted based on three articles, written over 2014 and listed in the references, which sought to update challenges for the international insertion of Brazil and the recent evolution of BRICS, markedly the “pre ” and “post ” Fortaleza Summit. The ter