Countries got fed up with having to operate inside systems where Western countries held disproportionate power, so they created a kind of international co-op to gain more influence, bargaining power and independence.
That is the simplest way to understand why BRICS exists.
The story
Imagine your town has a powerful club.
The club has existed for years. Its oldest members have the biggest say over the rules, the money and the important decisions.
Your town changes. New businesses grow. New centres of wealth appear. Some members become far more important than they once were, but power inside the club still reflects an older world.
Eventually, several of those countries start talking to each other.
They have different governments and different interests, but they share one problem: each wants a greater say over decisions that affect them.
Working together gives them more power than acting alone.
That is the basic story behind BRICS.
What is BRICS?
BRICS is a group of countries that cooperate on economic, political and international issues.
The name came from its original members:
Brazil
Russia
India
China
South Africa later joined, adding the S.
The group began political meetings in 2006, held its first leaders’ summit in 2009 and expanded further over the following years. By 2026, the official BRICS group listed eleven members.
The list of members has changed, but the basic reason for cooperation is easier to understand.
A growing number of countries wanted more influence over how the world works.
Why was BRICS created?
A small number of wealthy Western countries gained enormous influence over institutions created during and after the Second World War.
The United States and European powers became especially influential within global finance, international lending and political institutions.
Over time, countries such as China, India and Brazil grew in economic importance. They wanted their influence within global institutions to grow as well.
A clear example came in 2025, when BRICS finance ministers agreed a joint proposal for reform of the International Monetary Fund. They called for changes to voting power and representation so that developing countries would have greater influence.
In plain English, the world changed faster than some of the institutions running much of it.
BRICS grew from that gap.
Think of it as a co-op
BRICS has no legal structure resembling a shop or workers’ co-operative. The comparison is useful because it explains the basic advantage of working together.
One country negotiating alone has a certain amount of power. A group of large countries can carry more weight in trade talks, financial negotiations and international organisations.
Members can increase trade and investment between themselves, coordinate positions before major meetings and create shared institutions where their interests overlap.
The clearest example is the New Development Bank.
Created by the original BRICS countries, the bank finances infrastructure and sustainable development projects in emerging markets and developing countries.
That gives the group something practical.
BRICS can argue for reform inside existing institutions while building additional institutions of its own.
Is BRICS against the West?
BRICS members have very different relationships with Western countries.
India works with the United States and Europe in many areas while remaining a central BRICS member. Brazil follows its own foreign policy. China and the United States compete for influence, while Russia’s relationship with Western governments is openly hostile.
The group works through areas of shared interest rather than a single political ideology.
A useful way to understand it is this:
BRICS countries want more choices.
They want greater influence over international decisions and more ways to trade, borrow, invest and cooperate without relying entirely on institutions dominated by Western powers.
That makes BRICS a challenge to Western dominance, but the challenge comes mainly from building alternatives and increasing bargaining power rather than following one shared political programme.
What does BRICS actually do?
BRICS cooperation now covers far more than economics.
Officially, its work has three broad pillars: political and security cooperation, economic and financial cooperation, and cultural and people-to-people exchanges.
Under those broad headings, member countries hold meetings and develop cooperation in areas including energy, finance, health, technology, trade, security and international governance.
The pattern has developed gradually.
The countries began by talking regularly. Coordination grew. Financial institutions appeared. Membership expanded. Cooperation moved into more areas.
BRICS has become a place where its members can ask a practical question:
Where does working together give us more power or more independence?
Why is it growing?
For many countries, BRICS offers another centre of international cooperation.
Joining or working with BRICS can strengthen relationships with large emerging economies while leaving room for trade and diplomacy with Europe and the United States.
That flexibility matters in a world where power is spread across several major centres.
Countries can build different relationships for different purposes. One partnership might concern security, another trade, another energy and another finance.
BRICS fits that world because its members already have major disagreements alongside their shared interests.
In May 2026, BRICS foreign ministers failed to issue a joint statement after a meeting in New Delhi because of disagreements over the conflict in the Middle East. The failure showed a basic limit of the group: members can cooperate in one area while clashing sharply in another.
The co-op comparison works here too.
Members work together where cooperation helps them. Their separate interests remain.
Why does this matter?
Power comes in many forms.
Armies are one form. Money, technology, resources, supply chains, lending and control over important institutions also shape what countries can do.
A country with only one source of finance has less freedom than a country with several.
A country dependent on one market has less bargaining power than one with several strong trading relationships.
The same principle applies to technology, energy, infrastructure and diplomacy.
BRICS matters because its members are trying to create more options for themselves.
The group remains some distance from replacing Western-led global institutions. Its institutions exist alongside the older system, while disagreements between members place limits on collective action.
The important shift is the growth of alternatives.
Countries that once had fewer choices are building relationships and institutions that give them more room to act independently.
Who has the power inside BRICS?
A group that challenges an unequal system can still contain inequalities of its own.
China has far greater economic weight than several other BRICS members. India is another major power with its own ambitions and interests. Brazil, Russia and the newer members each enter the group from different positions.
That creates an important question for the future:
Will BRICS spread power more widely, or will new powerful countries gain greater control?
The answer will depend on how its institutions develop and whether smaller members gain real influence from participation.
A fair explanation of BRICS should examine both sides of the power relationship.
Western dominance deserves scrutiny.
So does the power growing outside the West.
What do people disagree about?
Supporters see BRICS as part of a fairer world where countries in the Global South have a stronger voice.
Critics question whether powerful members will dominate smaller ones and whether political disagreements will limit what the group can achieve.
There is evidence for taking both questions seriously.
BRICS members have created lasting institutions such as the New Development Bank and have coordinated proposals for reform of the IMF. They have also failed at times to agree on common statements.
TWIS will apply the same test to old powers and rising ones:
Who has the power, who benefits from it, and who gets left out?
In one sentence
Countries got fed up with having to operate inside systems where Western countries held disproportionate power, so they created a kind of international co-op to gain more influence, bargaining power and independence.
That is why BRICS exists.