The World in a BRICS Era
This book offers a comprehensive and multidimensional analysis of BRICS as a central actor in contemporary global governance. Through empirical case studies, theoretical reflections, and sectoral analyses, it examines the transformation of BRICS from a coordination forum among emerging economies into a complex platform shaping debates on multipolarity, development, institutional reform, and alternative international institutions. The chapters analyze political and economic interactions among BRICS members, addressing cooperation, competition, and internal asymmetries, with particular attention to the recent enlargement of the group. The volume further explores the implications of an expanded BRICS for international relations, geopolitics, energy security, regional power dynamics, and great power rivalries. Additional contributions examine South‑South cooperation, multilateral institutions, immigration, gender politics, international monetary and financial governance, sustainability, and normative agendas. The book demonstrates that BRICS is neither a monolithic alternative to the liberal international order nor a purely discursive coalition, but a heterogeneous and evolving platform through which emerging and middle powers coordinate in times of institutional uncertainty.
Valdir da Silva Bezerra is a Consultant to the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Transport Team at the World Bank Group. He holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from Saint Petersburg State University (Russia), where he defended a dissertation on the positioning of Brazil and Russia within BRICS, with particular attention to institutional and governance dimensions. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Faculdades Integradas Rio Branco (FIRB), with a thesis focused on Russia’s role in the post‑Soviet space.
His academic background includes specialized short‑ and medium‑term training in financial analysis, international security, political economy, and geopolitics, with relevance to international regulatory and governance frameworks. He was an Associate Researcher at the BRICS Study Group (GEBRICS) at the University of São Paulo (USP) from 2020 to 2025, and at the Center for Research in International Relations at USP from 2017 to 2024, contributing to interdisciplinary debates on global governance, international institutions, and development.
Luciano Vaz Ferreira holds a PhD in International Strategic Studies from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), including a research period at American University (Washington, D.C., USA). He completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in International Relations at the Air Force University (UNIFA) and holds a postgraduate degree in Digital Security from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS).
He is an Associate Professor at the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel), affiliated with the Center for Socio‑Organizational Sciences, where he teaches in the International Trade program. He is also a Permanent Professor in the Graduate Program in Aerospace Sciences at UNIFA. Ferreira has served as a Public Policy Analyst for the Government of the State of Rio Grande do Sul and coordinated international research projects funded by UNCTAD, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, and the Brazilian Ministry of Defense. His current research interests include Strategic Studies, International Relations, and International and Comparative Law, particularly in their institutional, regulatory, and security dimensions.
Charles Pereira Pennaforte holds a PhD in International Relations from the Universidad Nacional de La Plata (Argentina), with degree recognition by the University of São Paulo (USP). He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Latin American Integration at USP and is an Associate Professor at the Federal University of Pelotas (RS). He is a former Coordinator of the Graduate Program in History at UFPel.
Pennaforte is President of the Brazilian Association of Geopolitics (ASBRAGEO) and founder of the Center for Studies in Geopolitics and International Relations (CENEGRI), a non‑governmental organization established in 2004. He leads the CNPq‑certified research group Geopolitics and Mercosur: Regional Integration in the Contemporary World‑System (UFPel) and coordinates the Laboratory of Geopolitics, International Relations, and Anti‑Systemic Movements (LabGRIMA). He is a member of the Centro Studi Strategici Carlo de Cristoforis (Italy) and a contributor to Valdai Club (Russia).
His research interests include Brazilian Foreign Policy, Regional Integration, Contemporary Latin American History, World‑Systems Analysis, Geopolitics, and the legal‑institutional dimensions of regional and global governance. He has authored and edited more than a dozen books on geopolitics, globalization, neoliberalism, and international relations.