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Received: 2026-03-30 | Accepted: 2026-06-02 | Published: 2026-06-30

Title

An appraisal of South African internal political dynamics vis-à-vis its brics membership

Abstract

South Africa during the apartheid era and shortly after the demise of apartheid was an embodiment of the Western liberal order, which it pursued and implemented as it largely influenced both domestic and foreign policy. However, the complex interplay of different factors, including the decline of neoliberal hegemony led by the West and the emergence of the BRIC alliance, led to South Africa joining BRIC, which subsequently became BRICS. This largely shaped South African public policy and its development. South Africa remained the only African country in the BRICS bloc until 2023, when two other African countries joined BRICS. BRICS membership for members, especially for South Africa, implies that they operate in what is perceived as informal institutions, and these institutions shape their public policy and development trajectory; however, BRICS member states are still members of formal global institutions such as the United Nations, which are under the dominance of the West. After 2023, there were internal political changes in South Africa, following the general elections in May that saw the formation of the coalition government with different political parties, which are pro-West and anti-BRICS. These political changes imply that South Africa, as a member of BRICS, has forces within it that are opposed to the BRICS agenda; thus, there will be changes in public policy outlook and actions as the new political arrangements in South Africa have forces with pro-West ambitions. This article scrutinises South African policy and development as a BRICS member facing internal crisis and argues that internal political arrangements will impact South Africa’s participation in BRICS and will adversely affect South Africa as far as benefits from the BRICS alliance are concerned. The quest for a multi-polar world will be challenging for South Africa due to its history with the West, as there are forces that would resist the change in favour of the established status quo.

Keywords

policy, development, internal politics, institutions, multipolar

JEL classifications

B20 , E60 , O55

URI

http://jssidoi.org/ird/article/257

DOI

DOI 10.70132/w2376247294

Pages

164-177

Funding

This is an open access issue and all published articles are licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Authors

Mkhwanazi, Sandile Blessing

North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa https://www.nwu.ac.za

Articles by this author in: CrossRef | Google Scholar

Journal title

Insights into Regional Development

Volume

Number

Issue date

June 2026

Issue DOI

DOI 10.70132/b2656224558

ISSN

ISSN 2345-0282 (online)

Publisher

VšĮ Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, Vilnius, Lithuania

Cited

Article views & downloads

HTML views: 324 | PDF downloads: 352

References

Agarwal, M., Azim, R., & Kumar, S. (2022). BRICS: The 2008 financial crisis and economic performance. BRICS Journal of Economics, 3(2), 21-49 https://doi.org/10.3897/brics-econ.3.e86488