What is the significance of the Brics group of states and how should Switzerland position itself regarding them? The perspectives on this differ. The Brics group has been trying to shake up international politics for almost two decades. The "loose gathering of states", as a report by the Swiss foreign ministry puts it, presents an "effectively staged and propagated world and self-image" at its summits, which is attractive to emerging and developing countries: a "world order" that has to adapt to new centres of power. However, the term was coined in 2001 by an economist at the US investment bank Goldman Sachs, of all people, who used the slogan "Building Better Global Economic BRICs" to draw attention to the economic growth and importance of Brazil, Russia, India and China (the group was later joined by South Africa). This was almost a decade before the first Brics summit in Yekaterinburg, Russia, during the 2009 financial crisis. Since then, the group has grown in importance. More ...
