Crisis as an exam for the BRIC

The BRIC as an interacting community of the new centers of the world economy and international politics is a historically recent phenomenon. But over the four years it passed a long way from the start of regular political consultations on the level of Ministers of foreign affairs to the start of an annual summit. The process of intensive “quadrilogue” presents a tendency to diversification covering ever more wide range of problems dealing with the national interests of the four group members and the interests of the international community in general.

Meanwhile the analytical and scientific perception of the BRIC phenomenon presents a contradictory picture. On the one hand, it showed capacity of foreseeing (analyses by Goldman Sachs); on the other hand, it frequently lags behind the practice. Recognizing the presence of extraordinary market and industry potential in each of the four countries, some do not see a sufficiently wide basis for coincidence of the national interests; they do not see quite high rates of growth of the commercial and economic relations between the four members, what objectively does create a platform for cooperative interaction. Such interpretations shall be associated with the following two reasons. First, it`s the West-centric inertia of the contemporary global development perception. Second, it`s the aspiration of certain circles in traditional centers of the global economy and politics to impede the rapprochement of the four countries and to sow the seeds of distrust between them.

In academic community the investigation of the BRIC phenomenon till now was mainly individual and country-based passing to the genre of international comparisons. But taking into account the existing practice of interaction between the four members and probable perspective of its enrichment, the researcher`s aim is to determine the possibilities of their joint potential realization, interaction effect within the group of four and its aggregate influence on the global development process. From this point of view, it`s difficult to overestimate the importance of the present academic forum taking place in parallel with the II BRIC summit that has a chance to become a regular event.