BRICS: an explanation in critical geography

BRICS, an abbreviation for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, a group of five influential and emerging economies successfully completed its fifth annual summit in Durban during March 26-27, 2013. A significantly unique feature of the group is its geographical spread as evident from the location of these five constituent states which are situated in four continents. The paper seeks to explain the phenomenon of the disparate group BRICS through literature in Critical Geography as it is understood that the recent phase of globalization has created spatial patterns which were hitherto not experienced and therefore not clearly recognized in the literature on International Relations and traditional geography. Such spatially variegated groupings like the BRICS could be analyzed and interpreted in Critical Geography and Critical Geopolitics literature through three important concepts: a) Space b) Geographical and Geopolitical Imaginations and c) Region. The paper seeks to explain BRICS through these conceptual tools.