Rising Powers in International Development: Building an Agenda for Collaboration

The Institute of Development Studies (IDS) launched the IDS BRICS Initiative in 2011, which aimed to examine the multi-faceted role of the BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – as actors in international development. The Initiative was designed to promote learning from the experiences of the BRICS and other rising powers, and to stimulate debate on the implications of these countries’ growing importance for international development policy and practice, an arena where the BRICS have to date received limited attention from academia and policy-makers. An initial consultation process carried out amongst IDS’ wide network of think-tanks, universities and civil society partners in 2011/12 across the BRICS countries showed there was significant interest in engaging in further discussions around this agenda. At the same time, IDS was awarded funding by UKAID, the British Department for International Development (DFID), which meant it was able to increase the scope of the BRICS Initiative and launch a full research programme, titled Rising Powers in International Development (RPID). IDS marked the launch of the programme with a workshop which brought together participants from potential partner institutions in the BRICS countries to discuss an agenda for future collaboration in research, teaching, and policy work, focusing on development theory, development policy, development practice, and development resource flows; through conceptual and methodological framework development and scoping at the country level, in specific sectors, and in “AidLand” more generally. The workshop brought together a diverse group of actors, including researchers and practitioners working in international development in the BRICS and beyond; and provided an opportunity to share and gain new perspectives on the state of the debate of development across the BRICS.