This includes both the emerging economies — represented by the recently expanded BRICS grouping — that seek a leading role in writing the rules of the new order, and the smaller countries attempting to cultivate relationships that can safeguard their interests.
With the BRICS, what began as an asset class has become a symbol of the yearning for a more broadly representative global order, a hedge against Western-led institutions, and a means of navigating growing geopolitical uncertainty. All this has proved highly attractive.
Earlier this year, the BRICS expanded from five countries — Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa — to nine, adding Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates. And almost three dozen more countries — including NATO member Turkey, close US partners Thailand and Mexico, and Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country — have applied to join.