The European Union and the Brics: Challenges and Power Relations Between Antagonism and Interdependence

Abstract

In this study, the aim is to understand the importance and role of the BRICS as a bloc in international relations, in particular, related to the European Union and the will to counterbalance the United States. On the one hand, we examine the BRICS and its role in international relations, highlighting the existing position regarding the changing world order, untangling its geopolitical factors; on the other hand, international security is analyzed, highlighting NATO and the European Union. Finally, the United States position on the Asia-Pacific is also included, since the BRICS intend to create an alternative international order, but it is dependent on US foreign policy and its projection capacity. The results show that, although the BRICS constitute a bloc and wish for a new world order, they have attained their geocultural limits as well as their capacity for effective power beyond the internal social and political difficulties derived from their heterogeneity, antagonism, and interdependence.