Beyond the BICs: identifying the ‘emerging middle powers’ and understanding their role in global poverty reduction
Much attention has been focused on the BICs (Brazil, India and China) and how they are changing global politics and economics. However, there is also a further tier of emerging middle powers ‘beyond the BICs’ that are playing a more prominent role in regional and global arenas. This paper sets out the role played by these countries and examines the economic and institutional factors that may be seen as characterising the emerging middle concept.
The paper states that countries should be seen as falling squarely within the group of emerging powers beyond the BICs include: Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Others satisfy a number of relevant criteria: Argentina, Iran, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam. Countries that might become emerging powers include Bangladesh, Egypt and Thailand.
The authors argue that before the emerging powers beyond the BICs can be fully conceptualised, and their behaviour theorised, more empirical work is required. The document provides the following conclusions:
- emerging middle powers are a neglected component of the changing economic balance of power
- emerging powers under study tend to be active only within certain policy areas, since these new middle powers lack the economic and demographic weight of the BICs
- these countries are providing development strategies that have been demonstrated to work
- economic growth is only part of their story, another important dimension of the emerging middle phenomenon is global governance
- emerging middle powers are reasserting their rights within existing institutions and creating new multilateral south-south institutions
- all of these factors have significant implications for global governance and for poverty reduction; emerging powers beyond the BICs will have a crucial impact on global poverty in coming decades
