Strengthening multipolarity is essential for global balance. With this in mind, BRICS, as well as the nations of the Global South, would benefit from reconsidering their participation in the IMF and WTO. This approach aims to promote greater autonomy and economic development aligned with their specific interests. Combining critical analysis and foresight, this article highlights the benefits of being able to navigate complex international contexts and promote innovative strategies for a multipolar future.
Within BRICS, the recent enlargement including Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia marks a crucial step towards strengthening the influence of emerging countries on the global economic and political scene. This dynamic raises the strategic question as to the advisability of detaching itself from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in favour of increased multipolarity. The predominance of the United States within the IMF, illustrated by its veto power, contrasts with the minority representation of emerging countries, despite their significant demographic and economic weight. The rigorous conditions of IMF loans, often uncorrelated with local realities, and high-interest rates have sometimes exacerbated debt crises, as in Africa and Latin America in the 1980s.
Faced with these challenges, economic autonomy and the creation of international financial institutions specific to the BRICS present themselves as potential advantages of a possible departure. The departure in question will pose to the Western minority the risks of economic isolation and considerable loss of influence on world economic policies – the end of the status quo in the management of world affairs. An optimal strategy for BRICS and the Global South would therefore consist of completely withdrawing from the IMF and WTO, which serve as instruments of economic harassment, thus strengthening their influence while developing alternative structures to Western systems. This systemic approach would allow them to take advantage of their economic and demographic weight while working for a global system that is more balanced and representative of their interests.
BRICS+ challenges the dominance of Western powers in global governance structures
As a significant force advocating for a multipolar world order, BRICS, which now encompasses BRICS and BRICS+, has significant demographic, economic and military superiority. This coalition, representative of the majority of countries in the world, aims to challenge the predominance of Western powers within global governance structures, such as the World Bank (WB), the IMF and the WTO, whose doors should be slammed shut.
Historically, BRICS formed with the aim of establishing a more balanced global economic order with clear objectives, including the reform of international financial institutions to better reflect the realities of emerging markets. Their commitment to the creation of alternative institutions, such as the BRICS New Development Bank and the Contingency Reserve Arrangement underlines their determination to offer alternatives to Western-dominated financial systems, which, moreover, does not sit right with those nostalgic for unipolarity.
This is why abandoning the IMF and WTO could give BRICS countries greater autonomy and economic independence, as well as the ability to strengthen their own financial entities and constitute a powerful symbolic gesture in favour of a multipolar world order. Strategically, building coalitions with other emerging markets in the Global South can also strengthen the BRICS voice for global governance reforms without sacrificing the benefits of membership. Let us recall the fact that the countries of BRICS share the fact of being subjected, differently of course, to the diktat and, therefore, to the domination of the Western world. This collective awareness offers ease of coordination of systemic integration policies, which could lead to the better performance of their national economies.
It can therefore be said that the idea of leaving the IMF and WTO is a direct way of consolidating multipolarity, in the sense that it offers excellent advantages for achieving broader goals of BRICS and the Global South. This strategy strengthens their position on the global economic stage. In short, turning our back on these economic instruments (IMF and WTO) of Western domination, while vigorously developing alternative institutions, could offer a more sustainable path towards achieving a balanced global order, multipolarity.
Mohamed Lamine KABA – Expert in geopolitics of governance and regional integration, Institute of Governance, Humanities and Social Sciences, Pan-African University, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
