BRICS Summit: Is the Bloc Truly Challenging a Western-Dominated World?

Source: Al Jazeera | Original Published At: 2026-09-11 07:42:24 UTC

Key Points

• India hosts the BRICS Leaders' Summit on 12-13 September in New Delhi, with Russian President Vladimir Putin arriving ahead of the meeting.
• The summit takes place amid divisions among members over the US-Israel war on Iran, including differing positions from Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
• Analysts say BRICS was created to challenge the Western-led order and has provided a platform for Global South countries, but it has struggled to build a coherent alternative to Western institutions.
• BRICS accounts for a large share of global population, output, oil production and trade, but its collective economic leverage is limited by continued reliance on the US dollar.
• The New Development Bank has approved about $39 billion in total by the end of 2024 and still raises most of its money in dollars, according to one analyst.
• Some experts argue BRICS should be measured by whether it makes Western dominance harder to exercise rather than by whether it replaces Western-led institutions.