The article discusses whether global governance is effective enough to uphold the economic development and can it combat poverty to achieve Sustainable Development Goal One (SDG 1) in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS). It is an area that is least researched in the domain of global governance.
This article focuses on the SDGs as part of global goals and investigates the implementation status of SDG 1 (no poverty) in BRICS countries.
The research is descriptive in nature that played an important role in developing an in-depth account of the status of SDG 1 in BRICS.
The article employed a qualitative, descriptive research method. This article, which is theoretical in nature, drew its arguments on secondary data, which included books, journal articles, newspaper clippings, internet sources and official documents.
The findings confirm that global governance cannot be successful completely until it deals with aspects of legitimacy and representation.
From the literature reviewed, it can be deduced that BRICS is not in a position to achieve SDG 1 on absolute terms.
Governance is defined as the sum of the many ways individuals and institutions, public and private, manage their common affairs (Røen
According to Komatsu (
The article employs the qualitative research approach, which is considered significant as it ‘seeks to develop an in-depth understanding [
The qualitative research approach utilises the triangulation of data (conceptual analysis, document analysis and unobtrusive research) with an aim to strengthen validity and reliability of the study. Conceptual analysis, as adapted by Nhlapo (
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) need ‘an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership’ (United Nations [UN]
Sustainable Development Goal One is linked to poverty reduction. This ‘concept of poverty is only applied to humans in everyday language and is an evaluative concept used by human societies to set minimum standards for those aspects of human lifestyles acquirable through economic capacities’ (Lotter 2007:1201–1202). The economic capabilities are not enough for human beings to live a life with acceptable standards of services. This is reflected in the report of the UN SDG Knowledge Platform (
… 736 million people live in extreme poverty, surviving on less than $1.90 a day; and by 2030, an estimated 80% of the world’s extreme poor will live in fragile contexts. (p. 1)
Economic development is not possible in regions experiencing extreme poverty, hence global leaders come together to offer financial aid. In order to achieve SDG 1, Ugoani (
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are considered as a case under study. Since its inception in 2009, the BRIC(S) grouping has grown in stature internationally. South Africa joined BRIC in 2010, becoming the fifth member of this bloc, hence the acronym BRICS. The BRICS countries have met annually to enhance cooperation amongst themselves and discuss issues of common concern, including global governance reforms (Pelchem
The concept global governance reform, initially referred to as a radical restructuring of the global economic order, is nowadays used as a reformist concept that seeks to accommodate the interests of neo-liberal globalisation with relatively marginal reforms that are seen as necessary to keep the system running (Overbeek et al.
According to the Index of Economic Freedom, an annual index and ranking published by the Heritage Foundation, Brazil’s economic freedom score is 53.7, making its economy the 144th freest in the 2020 Index. Its overall score has increased by 1.8 points, led by dramatic increases in scores for government integrity and investment freedom (The Heritage Foundation
However, Brazil’s economy, according to the statistics published by the Heritage Foundation (
At the country level, the Government of Brazil has decided to create a National Commission for the Sustainable Development Goals, the main institutional governance mechanism for fostering dialogue, engagement and integration of the initiatives carried out by subnational entities and civil society. The aim of the commission is to internalise, disseminate and ensure the transparency of the 2030 Agenda implementation process (UN
In terms of global governance, Brazil is listed as a partner in the Partnerships for SDGs online platform. The platform is UN global registry of voluntary commitments and multi-stakeholder partnerships made in support of sustainable development and the 17 SDGs. The platform also facilitates the sharing knowledge and expertise amongst multi-stakeholder SDG-related partnerships and voluntary commitments and for providing periodic updates on their progress (UN
Brazil, however, is not forecast to meet a number of SDG targets by 2030. For instance, by 2030 an estimated 7.6 percent of the population might well still be living in poverty on less than $3.10 per day (SDG 1). (p. 3)
This situation defies the notion of global governance.
Brazilian President Lula da Silva has envisioned the need of global economic governance reforms, hence emphasised that (South African Institute of International Affairs [SAIIA]
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Brazil, nonetheless, is not in a favourable position to achieve its SDGs.
According to Social Watch (
Russia faced relatively tight monetary policy in the first half of 2019, in addition weak real disposable-income dynamics because of higher inflation on the back of rate hike in the Value Added Tax (VAT) and a slow start in the implementation of national projects dampened growth in 2019. A decline in the labour force and in the number of employed people, because of population ageing, continues to be a drag and has not been yet compensated by the recently increased retirement age (World Bank
The [
The government hopes to reduce the share of Russians living in poverty – defined as those with a monthly income below $180 to 10.8%, an upgrade on its previous target for 2020 of 11.7%. In absolute terms that would represent around 16 million Russians living below the threshold (The Moscow Times
This situation also has a negative impact on the implementation of SDG 1 in Russia. According to Kolmar and Sakharov (
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The action plans lack the discussion on poverty reduction, hence neglecting the fact that globalisation cannot be sustainable until challenges are resolved in a localised context.
This realisation later led to the inclusion of SDG 1 in the Russia’s State Programmes in 2018 to implement measures such as employment, social grants, etc. However, target 1B of SDG 1 that aims to ‘create sound policy frameworks at the national, regional and international levels, based on pro-poor and gender-sensitive development strategies to support accelerated investment in poverty eradication actions’ (UN
This is worth noting that in terms of global governance, Russia had to face ‘sanctions, imposed by the United States (US), European Union (EU) and other countries in various tranches since 2014, [
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The country has to find intra-governmental resources to deal with fiscal challenges. However, ‘some observers place the blame on Western economic sanctions, which have contributed to Russian poverty and economic uncertainty’ (Evans
India is the world’s fourth-largest economy. It produced $9.4 trillion in goods and services in 2017 (The Balance
About 60% of India’s nearly 1.3 billion people live on less than $3.10 a day, the World Bank’s median poverty line. And 21%, or more than 250 million people, survive on less than $2 a day. (Basu
This situation can be considered as a wealth-divide that leads to economic inequalities in the country. Despite of wealth availability in the country because of internal politicised strategies, India is facing a downhill scenario in terms of sustaining its economic status whereby:
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This economic situation could affect the effective realisation of SDG 1 in India, therefore the government has launched ‘many progressive schemes, including the world’s largest employment guarantee scheme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the National Social Assistance Programme’ (UN India
Nonetheless, traditionally disadvantaged subgroups such as rural dwellers, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, Muslims and young children were still the poorest in 2015–2016 (UN India
Modi is up against India’s bloated government bureaucracy. That makes the execution of any fiscal or monetary policy difficult. In August 2015, he was blocked from passing a bill to acquire land to promote infrastructure. (The Balance
This economic scenario may negatively impact the implementation of SDG 1. In terms of global governance, ‘investors backed off from India and other emerging markets when the U.S. Federal Reserve began tapering its quantitative easing programme’ (The Balance
The Chinese economy has experienced unprecedented growth in the last few decades that catapulted the country to becoming the world’s second largest economy. In 1978 – when China started the programme of economic reforms ‒ the country ranked ninth in nominal GDP with USD 214 billion; 35 years later it jumped up to second place with a nominal GDP of USD 9.2 trillion (Focus Economics
In as recent as 2015, there were 55 million poor people in rural areas. The World Bank explains that because of China’s fast-growing economy, it has brought on challenges such as high inequality, environmental sustainability issues and poverty. Thankfully, China is aware of these problems and works to eradicate poverty within its walls. (The Borgen Project
However, towards the end of 2016, China still had 43.35 million people under the poverty line of 2300 yuan (about $334) in annual income. With so many loans taken out for poverty assistance, Chinese debt in 2000 to 2014 rose from $2.1 trillion to $28.2 trillion. This amount is projected to increase by around 300% of GDP by the year 2022 (The Borgen Project
The IMF in a recent study stated that from the first economic reforms of the 1970s through 2002, poverty persisted because of a decrease in the ‘quality of the economic growth’ paired with more inequality (Forbes Media
The Chinese government spent 920 million yuan ($146 000) every year from 1994 to 2000 on highways in 529 poor counties in 21 provinces, for example. A similar road construction programme begun in 2002 was set at 31 billion yuan, 16.7 billion invested by the central government and 14.3 billion by local governments. Stimulus for job creation during economic downturn in 2008 also came from government funds. (Forbes Media
The success of such measures will only be assessed in coming years.
The South African Population in 2020 was 59 136 154 (World Population Review
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The South African Government has invested in entrepreneurship, education and agriculture interventions to combat poverty. There are national policies and programmes in place to achieve the SDG 1, such as the National Development Plan 2012 to reduce poverty and inequality by 2030.
In terms of global governance, Ngonyama (
Merlo (
In terms of economic status, ‘fragile-five’ was a term coined by Morgan Stanley in its report in a 2013 to describe the status of economy in five of the emerging markets. They were Brazil, India, Indonesia, South Africa and Turkey (Dutta
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Rapid growth, as stated in the UN document (
In case of Russia, welfare improvement including poverty reduction are the priority directions of the social policy and they are defined in the ‘Concept of Long-term Socio-economic Development of the Russian Federation 2020’ and the ‘National Security Concept of the Russian Federation’. The main measures for reducing the poverty rate are also determined in the government programme ‘Social Support of Citizens’ aimed at ensuring accessibility, high quality and security of social services (Massarova & Potapenko
China has been driving international development with its practical approach to poverty reduction and development and pushing for the establishment of a new type of international exchanges and cooperation for poverty reduction with win-win cooperation as the core (Weiping
A hope lies in the fact that at the 2016 G20 Hangzhou Summit, an action plan was developed, for the first time ever, to implement the 2030 Agenda. At the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in May 2017, heads of state and government of 29 countries and over 1600 representatives from more than 140 countries and 80 international organisations put forward the initiative to jointly build the Belt and Road, so as to establish a new platform for win-win cooperation and create new opportunities for implementing the Agenda (Weiping
Another emerging challenge is the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The influence of BRICS countries in the international arena has risen enormously in recent decades. However, little attention has been paid to the comparison of COVID-19 pandemic responses and related factors in BRICS countries, despite their increasing global significance as individual countries and as an economic grouping (Zhu et al.
From the literature review stated here, it can be deduced that BRICS is not in a position to achieve SDG 1 in absolute terms. It can be deduced further that not all BRICS Summits discussed the need to eradicate poverty as much of the focus was on other SDGs.
When the first BRICS Summit was held in China (2011), the international community was already aware that the UN Millennium Campaign (2000–2015) was about to reach limited achievements. Whilst being the most successful anti-poverty effort in the history of humankind, the 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the 21 Targets were not fully reached, and the agenda was left unfinished for millions of people in the most disadvantageous countries. In the UN Summit in New York (2015), it was established that this partial success was to be addressed by means of the 2030 Agenda, which included the SDGs: a new set of 17 Goals and 169 Targets to be reached in 15 years to enhance the transition to sustainable development and to end poverty in all forms, everywhere and forever (Nkibrics.ru.
Brazil, ‘Decent Work and Economic Growth’ (23%) and ‘Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions’ (22%);
Russia, ‘Decent Work and Economic Growth’(18%) and ‘Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions’ (15%);
India, ‘Decent Work and Economic Growth’(18%), ‘Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions’ (15%) and ‘Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure’ (30%);
China, ‘Industry Innovation and Infrastructure’ (20%) and ‘Decent Work and Economic Growth’ (19%);
South Africa, ‘Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions’ (21%) and ‘Decent Work and Economic Growth’ (18%).
The empirical data confirms that there is more focus on three SDGs that are ‘Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions’, ‘Decent Work and Economic Growth’ and ‘Industry Innovation and Infrastructure’ and there is a lack of consideration to work on SDG 1.
The declarations of BRICS summit also lack the SDG 1 targets to achieve with inadequate focus on what, how and when poverty reduction measures will be implemented. This is substantiated by the documentary analysis of BRICS summits. The third BRICS Summit held in 2011 in Sanya, China stated:
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The declaration of the fourth BRICS Summit, held in New Delhi, India, in 2012, highlighted the group’s concern about the unstable situation of the world market and the stability policies adopted by central countries that adversely affect emerging countries. Concerning the social issue, the group reiterated the aspects of sustainable growth and development associated with food safety, eradication of poverty, hunger and malnutrition and the urgent need to create jobs to improve the standard of living in the world (De Vasconcelos Costa Lobato
The economic crisis takes on much of the points in the declaration, where the group again criticised the measures taken by the central countries to protect their economies, with negative impacts in other countries, especially the increasing internal debts and rising unemployment, maintaining world instability. In the declaration, BRICS announced its most daring initiative, which was the decision to create the New Development Bank (NDB), the BRICS bank (De Vasconcelos Costa Lobato
The sixth BRICS summit was held in Fortaleza, Brazil, in 2014. The central theme being ‘Inclusive growth: sustainable solutions’ with the objective of maintaining inclusive macroeconomic and social policies … and facing the challenges posed by the need to simultaneously achieve growth, inclusion, protection and preservation (De Vasconcelos Costa Lobato
In order to meet with the SDG 1, the leaders of BRICS have taken strategic decisions to eradicate poverty, such as, the Former Brazilian President Michel Termer who aimed to secure more foreign investment; Russia and India boosted investment in an integrated manner; China pledged $76.4 million for a BRICS economic and technology cooperation agenda. President Xi Jinping also pledged $4 million to the NDB; and South African Former President, Jacob Zuma, focused on the implementation of the UN’s SDGs 2030 to eradicate poverty (The Borgen Project
The lack of monitoring and evaluation of SDG 1 and related targets may be a stumbling block for BRICS to realise its aim of poverty eradication.
In 2020, the world globally started experiencing the dilemma of COVID-19. The difference between opinions is already witnessed amongst EU; the US, being a highly resourceful nation is struggling internally to strategies and operationalise health system and the emerging economies are facing economic shut down. The situation is dire for people living in poverty and unemployment rate has drastically increased because of the pandemic. In this scenario, the questions that emerge include: Do BRICS have economic resources to bring financial stability and fiscal strengthening to its own member states? and Can BRICS also assist member states to bring economic viability despite financial struggle within their own countries in a post-COVID-19 era?
This aspect of global governance will only be observed in the coming years.
The article is an effort to discuss these aspects conceptually explaining the meaning of global governance and contextually its applicability in BRICS emphasising its relevance to global development goals. The suggestions can be applicable globally, based on the economic development and resource advancement in country-specific contexts.
The author would like to acknowledge the works of scholars who have contributed their knowledge debating the aspects of service delivery in South Africa.
The author declares that there is no financial or personal relationship that may have inappropriately influenced him in writing this article.
I declare that I am the sole author of this research article.
This article followed all ethical standards for research without direct contact with human or animal subjects.
This study received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Data sharing is not appropriate to this article as no new data were created in this study.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the author, and the Publisher/s.