The BRICS in Southern Africa A Foreign Policy Analysis in Historical Perspective

Abstract

The BRICS were created at the beginning of the 21st century to reorganize the international world order to represent their weight in international politics, economics, and geopolitics. Although they are entirely different, the BRICS saw a strategic space to reach these goals in the African continent. Thus, these countries started to broaden their presence in the African continent. As a result, BRICs started their relations with Africa differently, but they acted in similar sectors. The fellow paper pursues to analyze the Brazilian, Russian, Indian and Chinese (called here as BRICs) insertion in Southern Africa, highlighting the main convergence sectors and divergences between them. The methodology will be based on historical analyses, connecting their historical insertion in Southern Africa in a broad perspective of foreign policy objectives in the 21 st century. In the first session, we will approach the economic presence of BRIC in Southern Africa in 21 st century. Latter, we will abstract each one's foreign policy for the region (highlighting the main economic sectors and diplomatic presence).

Moreover, it will be possible to compare their presences, highlighting the convergence and divergence between them. The Chinese and Indian weight in Africa's economy is more perceptive than Brazilian's and Russian's. Nonetheless, all BRICs have been widening their trade and diplomatic relations with Southern Africa in the 21st century due to their perspective of the importance of Africa in international world politics.