BRICS summit: Is the bloc truly challenging a Western-dominated world?

What the report says

BRICS leaders are meeting in New Delhi on Sept. 12-13, with India hosting the summit as the bloc seeks to raise its profile amid continuing divisions over the US- and Israel-led attacks on Iran earlier this year. According to Al Jazeera, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in New Delhi on Friday, and the gathering is expected to be another attempt to find common ground on a war that has affected members differently, including Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

The article says BRICS was created by emerging economies to push back against Western dominance and give Global South countries more leverage in trade, investment and diplomacy. The current membership now includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and newer entrants such as Iran, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia and Indonesia. Analysts quoted by Al Jazeera said the bloc has helped make the world more multipolar, but has not built a fully coherent alternative to Western-led institutions.

Experts cited in the piece argued that BRICS may be better judged by whether it makes Western influence harder to exercise, rather than by whether it replaces the West. They pointed to the bloc’s economic scale, but also to its limits: members remain divided on foreign policy and security, and the US dollar continues to dominate trade and reserves. The New Development Bank and other BRICS initiatives have provided some options outside Western institutions, but the article says their reach remains modest compared with established lenders such as the World Bank.

Overall, the summit highlights a wider question about the bloc’s purpose as global politics shift. Al Jazeera’s reporting suggests BRICS still matters as a forum for coordination and bargaining, even if its ability to present a single challenge to the Western order remains constrained.