BRICS

"The Asian style of regional integration may be seen as a “quasi-common economy” that eschews a formal linkup in political
or monetary terms, but manages to generate similar results by strong physical integration and distributed chains of production
and service delivery. This note proposes the Asian quasi-common economy as a benchmark for South America’s regional
integration efforts because it is a better fit than the politically driven, broad-based, European style integrative process"

The emergence of new centres of power in Eurasia has entailed a re-reading of Zbigniew Brzezinski's book which drew an analogy between the Eurasian supercontinent and a grand chessboard. Following the global financial crisis of the last few years, countries like China, Russia and India have started to project greater global political and economic influence. Eventually, Eurasia has become a geopolitical symbol signifying a multipolar world order unlike fifteen years ago when Brzezinski wrote his book in a world dominated by the US superpower. The changes in the geopolitical meaning of Eurasia have also been very important for Turkey for a number of reasons. First, it is a country that is strategically located at the meeting point of Europe and Asia. Second, its economy has grown at an impressive rate throughout the 2000s turning it into a rising Eurasian power. Third, its multi-dimensional foreign policy approach in the last decade has enabled it to develop closer relations with the Eurasian states.

"This study develops and tests a model of information search in complex buying. We incorporate three categories of influences of organizational, personal and situational factors that affect
information searching efforts. A sample of 96 of the largest Brazilian firms reported their use of the various influences in the decision to purchase integrated business management systems. Findings show that formalization of the organization is a key driver of information search efforts. Situational characteristics of importance, novelty and bargaining power increased the level of information search. Also, conformity of the purchasing agent and organizational centralization reduce information search efforts among the sampled Brazilian firms."

A few months ago the BRIC countries - with South Africa, and together representing 43 percent of the world's population and 18 percent of the world's GDP - met in New Delhi for their fourth annual convention. In this meeting of five countries, which together attract more than half of total global financial capital, a plan was announced to establish a BRICS-focused development bank to be funded solely by BRICS countries.

"An apparent lack of interest by Russia in Sub-Saharan Africa over recent years masks persistent key strategic drivers for Moscow to reestablish lost influence in the region. A preoccupation with more immediate foreign policy concerns has temporarily interrupted a process of Russia’s reclaiming relationships, well-developed in the Soviet period, to secure access to mineral and energy resources that are crucial both to Russia’s economic and industrial interests and to its existing and new markets for military arms contracts.


Russian policy priorities in Africa provide both challenges and opportunities for the U.S. in fields such as nuclear non-proliferation, as well as energy security for the United States and its European allies. These priorities indicate that Russian development of key resources in southern Africa should be observed closely. Russian trade with the region is significantly underdeveloped, with the exception of the arms trade, which Russia can be expected to defend vigorously if its markets are challenged, including by the prospect of regime change or international sanctions.

At the same time, Russia and the United States have a shared interest in restricting the freedom of movement of terrorist organizations in ungoverned or lightly governed spaces in Africa, which opens potential for cooperation between U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) initiatives and Russian presence in the region.

Overall, Russian diplomatic and economic activity in southern Africa should receive continuing attention from U.S. policymakers due to its direct relevance to a number of U.S. strategic concerns.
"

"SOMMAIRE

EDITO - Partenariat Euro-BRICS : En route pour le monde d’après la crise, par Franck Biancheri (p.3)

INSTITUTIONS - Résultats du quatrième sommet des BRICS et perspectives de coopération entre les BRICS et l’Union européenne, par Prof. Valery Vorobiev (p.5)

REFERENTIEL - Conclusions du séminaire fondateur du processus Euro-BRICS, par LEAP (p.7)

PARTENARIAT STRATEGIQUE - Perspectives pour une coopération stratégique Euro-BRICS : un regard du Brésil, par Alexander Zhebit (p.9)

GEOPOLITIQUE - La Russie et le Brésil dans le groupe BRICS, ambitions pour l’avenir, par Ludmila Okouneva (p.12)

ECONOMIE - Le rôle de la coopération UE-BRICS, par Chandrasekharan Jayanthi (p.14)

COMMERCE - La coopération des BRICS au service de la formation d’une politique commerciale et les priorités de coopération BRICS et Euro-BRICS, par Dr. Tatiana M. Isachenko (p.20)

SYSTEME MONETAIRE - Les décideurs chinois à deux doigts de libéraliser la balance des capitaux, par Zhu Changzheng (p.22)

EDUCATION - Perspectives de collaboration dans le domaine de la connaissance, par Anna Makarenko (p.25)

DOSSIER : AEROSPATIALE
. La voie européenne vers l’Espace passe par la Chine et la Russie, par Stefan Hilgermann (p.27)
. L’Eurobrics et les technologies de souveraineté : le spatial, par Jean-Paul Baquiast (p.29)
. D’Europe, de BRICS, d’Espace : une contribution au débat sur la coopération Euro-BRICS en matière spatiale, par Tanja Masson-Zwaan (p.31) "