The expansion of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) with the membership of Ethiopia in 2024 and partner countries of Nigeria and Uganda in 2025 requires a new debate about whether South Africa is the only semi-peripheral power in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). South Africa’s leading role on the continent is being shaken up but does this represent the rise of new semi-peripheries in SSA? Could the growing number of BRICS members in SSA be the source of sub-imperialism or new semi-peripheries? This study suggests that despite the recent rise of its counterparts, South Africa is still the only semi-periphery in SSA.
AdamsJEbegbulemJ (2016) Nigeria’s national interest and interventions in West African conflicts: a critical analysis. African Journal of Politics and Administrative Studies9(1): 89–105.
4.
AldenC (2013) China and Africa. In: CheesemanNAndersonDScheiblerA (eds) Routledge Handbook of African Politics. 1st ed. New York, NY: Routledge, pp.414–425.
5.
AldenCLargeDOliveiraRS de (eds) (2008) China Returns to Africa: A Rising Power and a Continent Embrace. 1st ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
6.
AmisiBBondPKamidzaR, et al (2015) BRICS corporate snapshots during African extractivism. In: GarciaABondP (eds) BRICS: An anticapitalist critique. Reprint ed. Chicago, IL: Haymarket Books, pp.97–116.
7.
AndreassonS (2001) Divergent paths of development: the modern world-system and democratization in South Africa and Zambia. Journal of World-Systems Research7(2): 175–223.
8.
ArrighiGDrangelJ (1986) The stratification of the world-economy: an exploration of the semiperipheral zone. Review: A Journal of the Fernand Braudel Center for the Study of Economies, Historical Systems and Civilizations10(1): 9–74.
9.
AsanteR (2018) China and Africa: model of south-south cooperation?China Quarterly of International Strategic Studies4(2): 259–279.
10.
BanCBlythM (2013) The BRICs and the Washington consensus: an introduction. Review of International Political Economy20(2): 241–255.
11.
BaranS (2024) How has South Africa’s membership of BRICS intensified uneven and combined development in the country and beyond?Uluslararası İlişkiler Dergisi21(82): 117–133.
BondP (2013) Sub-imperialism as lubricant of neoliberalism: South African ‘deputy sheriff’ duty within BRICS. Third World Quarterly34(2): 251–270.
14.
BondP (2015) BRICS and the sub-imperial location. In: GarciaABondP (eds) BRICS: An Anticapitalist Critique. Reprint ed. Chicago, IL: Haymarket Books, pp.15–26.
15.
BondP (2018) East-west/north-south – or imperial-subimperial? The BRICS, Global Governance and Capital Accumulation. Human Geography11(2): 1–18.
16.
BondP (2022) Leaning on the BRICS as a geopolitical counterweight leads only to faux-polyarchic, subimperial ‘spalling’. Journal of World-Systems Research28(1): 146–152.
17.
BondPGarciaA (eds) (2015) BRICS: An Anti-Capitalist Critique. London: Pluto Press.
18.
BussottiLCoimbraEJ (2023) Struggling the islamic state in Austral Africa: The SADC military intervention in Cabo Delgado (Mozambique) and its limits. Frontiers in Political Science5: 1122373.
19.
CarmodyP (2016) The new scramble for Africa. 2nd ed.Malden, MA: Polity.
20.
CarmodyP (2024) BRICS’ enlargement: power expansion or contraction in a changing world order?EconPol Forum25(1): 14–17.
21.
Chase-DunnCRubinsonR (1977) Toward a structural perspective on the world-system. Politics & Society7(4): 453–476.
22.
DikoNSempijjaN (2021) Does participation in BRICS foster South-South cooperation? Brazil, South Africa, and the Global South. Journal of Contemporary African Studies39(1): 151–167.
23.
DonelliF (2018) The Ankara consensus: the significance of Turkey’s engagement in sub-Saharan Africa. Global Change, Peace & Security30(1): 57–76.
24.
FinkeldeyJ (2018) Lessons from Marikana?: South Africa’s sub-imperialism and the rise of Blockadia. In: Grady J and Grocott C (eds) The Continuing Imperialism of Free Trade. Routledge, p.12.
25.
GarciaAS (2017) Nonwestern periphery and its paradoxes: reflections for struggles in the 21st century. Journal of World-Systems Research23(2): 499–504.
26.
GebrewoldB (2014) Legitimate regional powers? A failed test for Ethiopia, Nigeria, and South Africa. African Security7(1): 1–23.
GoldfrankWL (2000) Paradigm regained? The rules of Wallerstein’s world-system method. Journal of World-Systems Research6(2): 150–195.
29.
GrayKGillsBK (2016) South–South cooperation and the rise of the Global South. Third World Quarterly37(4): 557–574.
30.
GuJCareyRShanklandA, et al (2016) Introduction: international development, south-south cooperation and the rising powers. In: GuJShanklandAChenoyA (eds) The BRICS in International Development. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp.1–24.
31.
HobsonJM (2011) What’s at stake in the neo-trotskyist debate? Towards a non-eurocentric historical sociology of uneven and combined development. Millennium40(1): 147–166.
32.
HopkinsTKWallersteinI (2016) Patterns of development of the modern world-system. Review (Fernand Braudel Center)39(1/4): 83–128.
33.
IkenberryGJ (2024) Three worlds: the west, east and south and the competition to shape global order. International Affairs100(1): 121–138.
34.
KimJ (2022) Between a regional hegemon and a middle power: the case of Nigeria. In: AbbondanzaGWilkinsTS (eds) Awkward Powers: Escaping Traditional Great and Middle Power Theory. Singapore: Springer, pp.221–241.
35.
KornegayFAJrNaiduS (2019) BRICS in the post-liberal world order: a New Agenda for cooperation? Perspectives from South Africa. Strategic Analysis43(6): 632–644.
36.
KutlayMÖnişZ (2024) A critical juncture: Russia, Ukraine and the Global South. Survival66(2): 19–36.
37.
LagutinaML (2019) BRICS in a world of regions. Third World Thematics: A TWQ Journal4(6): 442–458.
38.
Le GouriellecS (2018) Regional power and contested hierarchy: Ethiopia, an ‘imperfect hegemon’ in the Horn of Africa. International Affairs94(5): 1059–1075.
MartinWG (2013a) South Africa and the ‘New Scramble for Africa’: imperialist, sub-imperialist, or victim?Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy2(2): 161–188.
42.
MartinWG (2013b) South Africa and the World Economy: Remaking Race, State, and Region. Rochester, NY: BOYE6.
43.
McGowanPJ (1993) The ‘new’ South Africa: Ascent or descent in the world system?South African Journal of International Affairs1(1): 35–61.
44.
MielniczukF (2013) Brics in the contemporary world: changing identities, converging interests. Third World Quarterly34(6): 1075–1090.
45.
MlamboDNAdetibaTC (2020) Post-1994 South Africa’s peacekeeping and military intervention in Southern Africa, reference from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Lesotho. Journal of Public Affairs20(1): e1984.
46.
MukherjeeB (2022) Liberal international order and the evolution of BRICS. In: KumarRMehraMKRamanGV, et al. (eds) Locating BRICS in the Global Order. India: Routledge, pp.17–35.
47.
NachMNcwadiR (2024) BRICS economic integration: prospects and challenges. South African Journal of International Affairs31(2): 151–166.
48.
NaiduSAmpiahK (eds) (2008) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon?: Africa and China. Scottsville, South Africa: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press.
49.
ObiC (2018) Nigeria’s foreign policy in relation to the economic community of West African States. In: WarnerJShawTM (eds) African Foreign Policies in International Institutions. New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, pp.311–325.
OgunnubiOOkeke-UzodikeU (2016) Can Nigeria be Africa’s hegemon?African Security Review25(2): 110–128.
55.
OlanrewajuJSNwozorA (2022) Hegemonic rivalry in a peripheral region: an assessment of Nigeria–South Africa’s role in African politics. Insight on Africa14(1): 7–23.
OshewoloSAzeezAAdesanyaO, et al (2024) Nigeria in ECOWAS politics: major contributions, dividends and setbacks. Insight on Africa16(2): 127–145.
58.
QoboMSokoM (2015) The rise of emerging powers in the global development finance architecture: the case of the BRICS and the new development bank. South African Journal of International Affairs22(3): 277–288.
59.
SakwaR (2019) BRICS and sovereign internationalism. Strategic Analysis43(6): 456–468.
60.
ScholvinS (2018) Contestation in Sub-Saharan Africa: the foreign policies of Angola, Kenya and Nigeria vis-à-vis South Africa. In: EbertHFlemesD (eds) Regional Powers and Contested Leadership. Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp.137–161.
61.
ShawTM (1978) Inequalities and interdependence in Africa and Latin America: Sub-imperialism and semi-industrialism in the semi-periphery. Cultures et développement10(2): 231–263.
62.
ShawTM (2015) African agency? Africa, South Africa and the BRICS. International Politics52(2): 255–268.
63.
SmithK (2018) South Africa: still an ambivalent (sub)regional leader? In: EbertHFlemesD (eds) Regional Powers and Contested Leadership. Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp.113–136.
64.
SpiesYK (2022) The equivocal power of South Africa. In: AbbondanzaGWilkinsTS (eds) Awkward Powers: Escaping Traditional Great and Middle Power Theory. Singapore: Springer, pp.199–219.
65.
TanselCB (2015) Deafening silence? Marxism, international historical sociology and the spectre of Eurocentrism. European Journal of International Relations21(1): 76–100.
66.
TaylorI (2014) Africa Rising? BRICS - Diversifying Dependency. Oxford: James Currey.
67.
TrotskyL (2000) History of the Russian Revolution: Volume One. Marxists Internet Archive.
68.
TrotskyL (2010) The Permanent Revolution & Results and Prospects. Revised ed. Seattle, WA: Red Letter Press.
69.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (2024) Specific country data. Human development reports. Human Development Reports. United Nations. Available at: https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/specific-country-data (accessed 20 August 2024).
70.
Van der MerweJ (2016a) The BRICS puzzle: rise of the non-west or veiled sub-imperialism? In: ZhukovADeychT (eds) Africa’s Growing Role in World Politics. Lac-Beauport: MeaBooks Inc, pp.145–162.
71.
Van der MerweJ (2016b) Theorising emerging powers in Africa within the western-led system of accumulation. In: van der MerweJTaylorIArkhangelskayaA (eds) Emerging Powers in Africa: A New Wave in the Relationship? International Political Economy Series. Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp.17–38.
72.
WallersteinI (1982) World-systems analysis: theoretical and interpretative issues. In: HopkinsTKWallersteinIM (eds) World-Systems Analysis: Theory and Methodology. Beverly Hills, CA: SAGE, pp.91–103.
73.
WallersteinI (2004) World-Systems Analysis: An Introduction. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
74.
WallersteinI (2011) The Modern World-System I: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth Century. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
WoldemariamM (2018) Regional powers, great power allies, and international institutions: the case of Ethiopia. In: WarnerJShawTM (eds) African Foreign Policies in International Institutions. New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, pp.371–388.
78.
World Bank (2025a) GDP per capita (current US$) - Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, Congo, Dem. Rep., Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda. Available at: https://data.worldbank.org (accessed 10 February 2025).
World Bank (2025c) World development indicators: structure of value added. Available at: https://wdi.worldbank.org/table/4.2 (accessed 10 February 2025).
YigzawTDMengisteabK (2024) Exploring the repercussions of bilateral military intrusions in the horn of Africa: Ethiopia and Kenya’s Invasion of Somalia. Journal of Asian and African Studies. https://doi.org/10.1177/00219096241228800
83.
Zoccal GomesGEstevesP (2018) The BRICS effect: impacts of south–south cooperation in the social field of international development cooperation. In: GuJKitanoN (eds) Emerging Economies and the Changing Dynamics of Development Cooperation, IDS Bulletin 49.3. Brighton: IDS, pp. 129–144.
