From Power Transition to Economic Integration Theory : A Review of the BRICS Literature

During the last decade, many scientific articles have been published in political science about the formation of BRICS and the therewith related possible change of the international order.However, this topic has attracted much less attention in the economics literature. Based on a selective literature review of articles in political science and economics we summarize their findings from both disciplines, and analyze the economic and political development of the member states before and after having formed this alliance. A conclusion is that this collaboration is in fact becoming increasingly important for the world economy, international order, and the catching-up development in poorer world regions. This entails various challenges for related research, like the study of potential trade effects of a closer BRICS cooperation