Image: The inaugural BRICS Business Council meeting in Johannesburg on 20 August 2013 (Flickr/South African Government)
The SIPRI Update for October 2014 is out now—read it online, or subscribe to receive the SIPRI Update in your inbox each month.
In this issue we present an essay by Fantu Cheru on Africa and the changing development landscape. He writes:
The momentum for enhanced South–South tactical alliances has increased in the 21st century. For example, cooperation between Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (the BRICS countries) signifies their rising importance in the world economy. A proliferation of bilaterally-led South–South cooperation platforms has followed, with emerging powers seeking to bolster their economic relations with African countries. While access to Africa’s oil and other strategic resources was the initial motivating factor, these relationships have assumed additional dimensions to take advantage of Africa’s untapped markets, youthful populations and growing middle classes. The increased engagement of emerging powers in Africa has rung alarm bells among traditional Western partners.
Read the full essay online or browse the full list of SIPRI Essays from 2009 to 2014.