Emerging economies including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa known as a growing force with the power of economy, finance and enormous potentials are considered as massive motivations affecting greatly the rest parts of the entire world. Theirs characteristics of politics, political geography and economic policy are not identical to traditional market economies in Europe and the US BRICS can be called the model of non-traditional market economy.
By Nguyen Tan Phat
Emerging
economies including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa known as a
growing force with the power of economy, finance and enormous potentials are
considered as massive motivations affecting greatly the rest parts of the
entire world. Theirs characteristics of politics, political geography and
economic policy are not identical to traditional market economies in Europe and
the US BRICS can be called the model of non-traditional market economy. The
rise and the great effect of BRICS can change the order of the current world
which has long been dominated by western nations during the past two decades.
Image Attribute: Image Attribute: Zhang Chengliang /
China Daily
However, BRICS itself contains challenges and barriers for the socio-economic
development such as hot growth, poverty, low living standards and environmental
pollution, etc. The political affiliations and violence in declaring the
sovereignty of seas, islands and territory reveal the latent instability that
can drive to conflicts and arms race, etc. BRICS is a
force without lack of necessary motivational factors that can enhance the
development but also contain inside challenges and barriers for the rest parts
of the modern world.
Most nations nowadays comply with the model of market economy but have two distinct operations. One is the model of traditional market economy in western
countries and developed nations in Northeast Asia like Japan, Korea, Singapore,
Hong Kong and Taiwan. The other operates according to the non-traditional market
economy in emerging nations like Brazil, India, China and South Africa called
BRICS group.
The 2008
global financial crisis destroyed severely the finance of western countries
that have obeyed traditional economy and public debt has overwhelmed the whole
Europe. In the early 21st century appeared the rather violent rise of the
non-traditional economies, namely BRICS, which have had a pervasive influence
not only on economics but also on global political issues.
The appearance
of BRICS and its growing impact is regarded as a ruler for the imperfection of
non-traditional model the theories of which must be reconsidered to have a more
convincing explanation of its imperfection and inefficiency when facing modern
economic problems. This appearance is also expected to supplement the limited
aspect of this model, so BRICS has become vital for the rest parts of the world
due to the world’s largest population, the second largest in economics just
after the US and the place that frequently provides the world with natural
resources. However, is BRICS perfect? Absolutely no. BRICS itself is
confronting numerous serious problems and its actions are worrying much many
other countries.
Image Attribute: Per Capita for the BRICS and three major developed economies
Among the nations in BRICS group, Russia and Brazil have per capita income as high as or a little higher than the one of the world. According to 2010 statistics from the World Bank, Russia made up 113.78% and Brazil was 116.73% compared with the average income of the world. This rate was even much lower in nations with dense populations like India (15.37%), China (48.26%) and South Africa (79.34%).
Supposing that
poverty standard is considered below USD $2 per day, the poor in India in year 2010 made up to 68.72%, equivalent to 829 million people. China, 2008, accounted
for 29.79%, equivalent to 394 million people. Brazil, 2009, 10.82%, 20.9
million people. South Africa in 2009 was 31.33%, 15.42 million people and
Russia, 2009, 0.05%, 0.071 million people. The overall poor population in BRICS
was approximately 1259 million people, accounting for 18.26% of the world’s
total population in 2010.
Thus, it is clear that the majority of the poor living on earth now chiefly
concentrate in BRICS, except Russia.
Living in the
poverty is the root of social injustice disputes, crimes and illiteracy, etc.
The exploitation of children and women laborers in hard coal mines, slumps,
male chauvinism, HIV disease, environmental pollution and manufacture of
counterfeit products, etc. are all in BRICS. This trouble is regarded as the
most enormous barrier for social progress, civilization and democracy.
Energy for the
demand of socio-economic growth is a challenge for BRICS. The electricity power
consumed in 2009 accounted for 31.12% of the world’s. Particularly, this rate
in China was 61.21% of the entire BRICS and 19.05% of the global energy.
Image Attribute: Primary Energy Consumption in BRIC Economies 2014
It is remarkable
that the increase speed of electricity consumption is higher than the average
rate of the world, especially China. This pace in 2006 compared with 2004 in
BRICS was 16.94% whereas it was 8.71% in the world, and particularly China was
30.14%. The rate in BRICS was 16.02% in 2008 compared with 2006, 6.72% in the
world and 21.64% in China. 4.05% in 2009 compared with 2008, 0.71% for the
globe and China was 7.66%.
Despite the
great volume of power consumption, it is hardly to meet the demand of
socio-economic growth as the per capita output of consumption in BRICS nations such as China,
India and Brazil is lower than the average of the world and even much smaller
than it is in developed countries like Japan, America, Singapore and Germany.
In 2009, this average rate in India was 20.36% compared with the globe, and
China was 93.87%. But in comparison with the US, this ratio was just 20.37%,
33.65% Japan, and 33.10% Singapore
China is growing
fast, so the great energy sources are very in need whereas its petroleum
sources are considered as the lowest among other countries and coal supply is
also limited. Thus, it is the key reason for China to suggest arbitrarily and
unacceptably the U-shaped line and trigger assaults on nations in the East Sea
such as Vietnam, the Philippines, Japan Sea and Hwang Hai Sea with Korea.
Political connections,
disputes and arms race in the whole globe.
Currently, the two nations of BRICS, China and Russia are permanent members of UN Security
Council. The changing tendency of the world and diplomatic measures to reform
the UN will be likely to focus mainly on expanding it by admitting India,
Brazil and South Africa to this
organization owing to their important roles in their own continents. The new
growing axis of politics and military is shown by the relationship between
Russia and China; China-Russia and their partners in Latin America and Africa
is revealed by the China’s investment in most nations in Africa and Latin
America, etc.
On the surface,
the affiliation of BRICS is merely for their self-interests but each of the
nations itself, even the neighboring nations like Russia, China and India, have
had conflicts and envy of each other for history, economics and politics as
well. Disputes at the thousands long road border, charges against each other
due to the support of protesters and the hatred of history are still problems
that BRICS could hardly defeat.
In contrast,
BRICS is typical of the unconventional economic model with the characteristics
of economic-political institutions representing for countries with emerging
economy. BRICS has had a wide effect on the face of economy and commerce owing
to the world’s largest population, and the second biggest economy after the US
BRICS’s power has been much enhanced since the 2008 global economic crisis and
the European public debt, and currently they are seemingly more powerful thanks
to the massive foreign currency reserves, the export of high-valued resources
and labor-intensive products with low prices.
Besides, BRICS
are confronting hard problems such as poverty, low living standards,
environmental pollution and pressures of energy for growth. Moreover, the high
rate of impoverishment but enormous foreign currency reserves is a paradox of
development process, which reveals that BRICS is somewhat failing to become an ideal model
for the redistribution of wealth for it's own community. On top of that, the fact that
BRICS is establishing a new world order by the affiliation with
economic-political-military policies that do not comply with international
general rules is much worrying the modern world now.
About The Author:
Nguyen Tan Phat,
University of Economics and Law, Vietnam National University HCMC, Ho Chi Minh
City, Vietnam
Publication
Details:
This article is an abridged form of author’s technical paper published at Modern Economy Vol. 3 No. 8 (2012) , Article ID: 26144 , 6 pages DOI:10.4236/me.2012.38115 under Creative Commons License. Download The Paper - LINK
This article is an abridged form of author’s technical paper published at Modern Economy Vol. 3 No. 8 (2012) , Article ID: 26144 , 6 pages DOI:10.4236/me.2012.38115 under Creative Commons License. Download The Paper - LINK
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