This of course doesn’t mean a rival on civilizational axis perceiving the world as East and West, West and Islam like Orientalist approaches. Instead, there was a place for a liberal but more prudent entity than the West. In other words, developing economies are categorized under different groups by certain international financial institutions. Jim O’Neill named one of the most famous categorizations as BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) in a report published by Goldman Sach in 2003.
In the brainstorming meeting held by the Institution of Strategic Thinking the question whether this new group which has a great economic and population potential is an alternative to the Western-oriented economy was discussed. The main questions to be answered in this context were whether the developing economies have a potential to balance the narrowing demand in the developed countries and whether there is a decoupling in the markets of the developed and developing economies.
Prof. Birol Akgün stating that the report that O’Neill published put forward the idea that these countries would be the prominent actors of the global sysyem by 2050, mentioned that these countries will cover %25 of the earth, %40 of the world population and approximately have 18,5 trillion Dollars of GDP by then.
Akgün also stated that in near future Mexico, South Korea, Arab countries members of Gulf Cooperation Organization and Southeast Europe and Turkey may also join this group. Furthermore, South Africa has been invited to the third official meeting of this group that will be held in China Sanya city.
In the meeting comparative economic potential of these countries were discussed. Assoc Prof. Muhsin Kar (Coordinator of Program of Economics at the IST) focused on the influence of the populations, purchase power and developing rates of these countries on their attracting the foreign capital.
Assoc Prof. Kıvılcım Metin Özcan (Bilkent Universiry and IST High Consultative Board member) focused on the future of the BRIC league and stated that the Russia which palyed a bad performance in the recent economic crisis and it is doubtful whether it will go on with it or not.
Discussing the prospects on the future of the BRIC and making an actor level analysis the speakers focused on the conjuncture that gave birth to BRIC. IST Expert on Far East Erkin Ekrem claimed that the US is a prominent factor that brought Russia and India together. If this factor fall from the stage it is possible that Russia and India may encounter. So, According to Ekrem this cooperation may have certain common interests but there will be significant political problem for the integration of these countries.
What is more the case is not just restricted to Russia and India. When we look at the position that India takes against China we can see the aforementioned problem more clearly. Halilullah Resuli IST Expert on Southeast Asia focusing the place of India in this group claimed that India has a population %50 percent of which is youth thus there is a population geopolitical significance here. By 2050 India will reach a significant range of production and the political standing may possibly be quite different than that she shows today.
Focusing on Russia as the weakest link in the group focused on the strong and weak points of Russia in the system Ass. Prof. Murat Çemrek quoted an analyst saying: “When we take China out of the BRIC it resembles a blinking cheese.” According to Çemrek BRIC should covert into an entity that has a Secretary General and gain a political meaning in order to advance.
Lastly when it comes to Brazil in the BRIC, it has a significant position the reach the markets of Latina America and a raising middle class. Thus, with this potential she wants to open to the globe via BRIC.