Since the early 20th century, a new practical thinking trend began to emerge, pushing towards the necessity of enhancing international cooperation to face the challenges and crises confronting humanity. This trend became notably clear during, between, and after the First and Second World Wars as a necessary response to address the severe impacts and consequences of these conflicts. These conflicts manifested in complex crises with humanitarian, political, and economic dimensions.
As a result, major urgent issues emerged, such as establishing global peace, reconstruction due to the massive destruction caused by wars, and enhancing cooperation in humanitarian and economic frameworks to ensure the ability to tackle such crises in the future. These issues required a concerted effort and extensive international collaboration, as it was impossible and impractical to address these crises through unilateral entities (states).
These tendencies quickly developed into practical frameworks. The period following the Paris Peace Conference (1919) witnessed the emergence of the League of Nations in 1920 as the first institution of international solidarity. This later evolved after the Second World War in 1945 into the United Nations, reaching its current form that includes six official bodies: the Security Council, the Economic Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice, the General Assembly, and the Secretariat, through which it manages its affairs. In addition to nearly 20 affiliated organizations, each undertaking specific tasks based on specialization, some of the most important include the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB), and the World Trade Organization (WTO), alongside a considerable number of agencies, funds, and other regional and global subsidiary bodies that assist the organization in managing its affairs and achieving its objectives.
In the economic framework, this substantial institutional development did not gain significant effectiveness and value in isolation from the outcomes of the political-economic conferences held during that period, adopted by the United Nations, which shaped its overall philosophy while seeking to provide solutions to address economic issues at the time.
The Bretton Woods Conference (1944) advanced a new vision for managing economic, monetary, and global trade affairs, paving the way with a series of pivotal decisions that contributed to shaping the global monetary system and outlining the features of global trade in an unprecedented manner through new systems and laws (see: GATT Agreement 1947). Additionally, it directed global economic movements by adopting a clear capitalist-liberal economic philosophy and a specific developmental model based on a free market economy and global openness, among other known capitalist economic determinants, which became the central philosophy of the global economy and trade.
Modern Tools of Dominance
These orientations were initially met with strong opposition, particularly from the Global South (developing countries) and several emerging economies, which considered this step as an organized attempt to impose Western, especially American, dominance over the global economy and international trade. Charles de Gaulle (1890 – 1970), founder of the Fifth Republic in France, was one of the prominent critics of these new policies that made the US dollar the sole currency for global trade exchange, granting the dollar a preferential advantage over other local currencies, positioning it akin to gold, which was the primary standard for regulating the money supply and represented the intrinsic value of official currencies.
These positions were reinforced over time through numerous biased practices by the United Nations system, both politically and economically, whether through various decisions and policies issued by the Security Council or any of its other bodies, which directly benefited the major founding and sponsoring powers of the United Nations system. This led to a significant loss of trust and necessary support, and it was classified as one of the tools of new colonialism and dominance.
This goes along with many of the evident issues and adverse outcomes that were revealed recently to be linked to the capitalist economic model itself and its monetary and financial policies, which remained the dominant policy within the organization and its bodies. Numerous reports, notably Oxfam's, highlight that only 1% of the world's population holds two-thirds of the world's wealth. Inequality is not the only crisis caused by the liberal system's policies facing the global economy today. Other crises include worsening food insecurity, continuous increases in poverty, unemployment, and inflation rates, and recurrent severe financial crises faced by most world economies, including major economies (see: the financial crisis of 2008, the debt crisis in Greece in 2010, and the financial crisis in 2011 and its aftermath).
The Rise of the East
Thus, there was a need to rethink and reconsider more seriously how to improve global economic conditions and the international trade environment and search for optimal ways to enhance international cooperation based on different foundations from those on which the previous system was established.
In the same context, significant and successful economic models emerged from the East, recording remarkable economic and developmental results in short periods. These economies proved their competence in achieving above-average growth rates and maintained high capabilities in keeping many positive indicators even during the aforementioned financial crises.
China, Russia, India, and Brazil, by September 2006, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meetings, for the first time, the foreign ministers of the four countries met to announce the beginning of joint cooperation under the name “BRIC.” The group held its first meeting in Russia in 2009, announcing the establishment of a bipolar global system. Later, the platform evolved to become “BRICS” after South Africa joined in 2020.
These five economies, along with six other newly joined countries: Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, the UAE, Argentina, and Ethiopia, under the umbrella of “BRICS-Plus,” now represent a system of over 3.5 billion people, about 45% of the world's population, occupying approximately 30% of the Earth's land area, including important commercial sites, straits, and passages. The group's combined contributions amount to over $28.5 trillion, representing about 28% of the world's total economy.
An Alternative Economic System
The major countries within the BRICS system, especially Russia and China, have continuously and consistently called for reshaping the global system based on new principles and values, primarily equality and positive, fruitful cooperation between countries and peoples of the world, away from political pressures or influences of political or social change.
The BRICS system relies on a financial structure comprising two institutions; the first: the New Development Bank (NDB), sometimes referred to as the BRICS Development Bank, agreed to be established in 2014 with its permanent headquarter in Shanghai, likely to begin operations with a capital of $100 billion.
The second institution: the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (BRICS CRA), serves as a framework to provide necessary protection against anticipated global liquidity pressures to achieve a stable economic environment in emerging markets. The first institution is considered parallel to the World Bank and its system, while the second represents a counterpart to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The BRICS system also developed its own payment system as an alternative to the SWIFT system, primarily relying on the national currencies of the BRICS member states for payment settlements, providing significant independence for these economies outside the dollar's role in global trade. Indeed, China has developed a modern payment system called the Cross-Border Inter-Bank Payment System (CIPS), aligning with this direction.
The BRICS system represents a considerable economic bloc in terms of influence, contribution, and global economic impact. Its economies and developmental models, along with its financial institutions, provide a viable alternative to confronting the global system and breaking the Western dominance (both politically and economically). The system offers intriguing and viable options worth pursuing confidently to achieve a better future in this world.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Read the Article in Arabic
