Understanding the BRICS framing of climate change: The role of collective identity formation

Abstract

This article explores how the BRICS states (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) frame the issue of climate change. Based on constructivist insights, the article argues that the formation of collective identity has fundamentally shaped the BRICS framing of climate change. On the one hand, BRICS′ connections to the developing world explain why BRICS has given voice to the arguments of developing countries with respect to climate change. On the other hand, BRICS′ policy concepts, ideas, and discourse reflect the attributes associated with the identity of emerging powers. This article argues that emerging power status encourages the BRICS states to portray themselves as responsible actors on the global scale and conceptualize a climate-sensitive economic development model in contrast to the Western production paradigm that is regarded as unsympathetic towards the needs of developing nations. In this process, the perception of the developed world as the relational other supports the sense of we-ness among the BRICS states, thereby shaping their policy formulations with respect to climate change.