Stresses on the BRICS’ Club Culture at the Xiamen Summit

The BRICS have long defied the expectations from its detractors that it is an artificial and unsustainable construct. Moving beyond the original identification of specific countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) deemed to possess a similar set of developmental characteristics by Goldman Sachs, BRICS took on an institutional format. With annual summits since 2009 BRICS has taken on a sustained personality. In terms of membership the profile of BRICS has been extended through the inclusion of South Africa at the 2011 Sanya summit. Moreover, at odds with the view of scholars such as Joseph Nye that it lacked “mortar,” the BRICS grouping has built up the New Development Bank (NDB) as an innovative instrument.