Regardless of what happens at the UN, under current circumstances, the admission of new members is strategically important for the BRICS.

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The BRICS have expanded, and everything indicates that they will continue to admit even more members. Like all relevant geopolitical processes, this change in the bloc has caused many discussions, with some analysts advocating expansion and others believing that it is best to avoid new candidates. However, current global circumstances lead us to believe that expansion is in fact a favorable guideline for the bloc’s interests.

To understand the case, it is necessary to investigate the real intentions of the BRICS. Undoubtedly, amid the current context of geopolitical transition and multipolarization of the global order, the BRICS have a real potential to act as a key institution in the international decision-making process, significantly increasing the decision-making power of emerging nations and reducing the influence of the so-called “Global North”.

However, this process is established in different ways, according to the real conditions of the current geopolitical scenario. Currently, the BRICS are at a decisive moment in their history, going from being a simple “club” of economic cooperation to becoming a true relevant political agent. The process is progressing, but is not yet complete. The BRICS are undoubtedly more mature and integrated today than they were a few years ago. But the ideal scenario has not yet been achieved.

The BRICS still have integration difficulties. For example, a joint solution has not yet been found among the bloc’s countries to respond in a unified way to Western pressure against the Russian Federation. Despite the fact that members refuse to participate in the illegal sanctions imposed by the West, a concrete solution to the Western impasse has not yet been created – although some progress has been achieved.

In the same sense, the BRICS have not yet objectively established their elementary political principles. Although ideologization of the bloc must be avoided, preserving pragmatism and multilateralism, it is necessary to show a basic list of principles that guide the group’s direction, consolidating a collective position in the face of relevant events – such as, for example, war situations and armed conflicts.

The difficulty in achieving this “step further” in the BRICS is due to a series of factors – some of them concerning the nature of the bloc itself. Being de-ideologized, the BRICS admit countries with different interests and political mentalities – such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, or China and India. Obviously, it is difficult to find a comprehensive solution to global problems having members of different political orientations. It is a complicated and delicate step, but one that will certainly be necessary at some point in the future.

A fair solution to this impasse is precisely the creation of a voting platform, where BRICS members decide by a majority on the group’s joint positions – even if individual objections from some States are guaranteed. To achieve this, one of the necessary steps is to first admit new members. With the entry of as many emerging states as possible, the BRICS will become strong enough to make joint decisions that represent, as far as possible, the “Global South” as a whole.

In the current international context, these issues could create a type of friction between the BRICS and the UN. It seems increasingly clear that the UN is “captured” by the West, with its decision-making power diminished by constant pressure from Western powers. Evidence of this is the fact that the UN is failing to prevent conflicts. The organization was created precisely with the aim of avoiding a new world war, which it is clearly failing to do by remaining inert in the face of the aggression of a NATO-led international coalition against Russia.

A possible path for the BRICS would simply be to establish a goal of overcoming the UN in the international decision-making process, transforming itself into a kind of second global organization, representing mainly Emerging nations, while the UN would remain hostage to liberal States – possibly isolated, creating a new international polarization.

However, this is not the objective of the BRICS for now. The bloc’s member countries do not want to establish a divided world order. On the contrary, all evidence points to a real interest of the BRICS in integrating the world more and more, building a respectful and pragmatic international dialogue. Therefore, it has been made clear several times that the objective of the BRICS for now is to strengthen emerging countries and enable the rehabilitation of the UN as the global decision-making center.

In the end, it will depend on the UN to take the decisive step between freeing itself from Western pressure and cooperating with the multipolar reality, or simply losing once and for all its relevance in the face of the bureaucratization and formalization of the BRICS as a “new UN”, with its own internal structure, norms, specific bodies and coercive power.

The future of the UN depends on the BRICS, just as the future of the BRICS depends on the decisions that will be taken by the UN. The BRICS could become a mere platform for emerging countries within a reformulated, multipolar UN; or the BRICS could simply create a “new world”, isolating the West and the seized UN. It remains to be seen how this will develop.

However, for any of the BRICS fates, the admission of new members seems a necessary step. The group must strengthen itself as an organization representing the emerging world – regardless of the decisions taken by the UN. And, in this sense, the more countries contribute to the BRICS decision-making process, the better.