Can BRICS De-dollarize the Global Financial System?

This study develops a 'Pathways to De-dollarization' framework and applies it to analyze the institutional and market mechanisms that BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) countries have created at the BRICS, sub-BRICS, and BRICS Plus levels. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core

Leadership and Performance in Informal Institutions: The Internal Dynamics of BRICS

How does leadership affect the performance of informal institutions? Leadership in BRICS is particularly puzzling: this informal institution rapidly grows despite the disparate interests of its members, some of which are in longstanding conflict. This article examines how three forms of leadership – intellectual, entrepreneurial, and structural – affect institutional performance using BRICS cooperation data. It demonstrates the importance of intellectual leadership, particularly in strategically framing the cooperation problem in a way that creates mutual gains, as essential for realising collective outcomes in informal institutions. Collective action is catalyzed through the interplay of the three leadership forms. However, the activating function of intellectual leadership – paired with follow-up activities if it initially fails – shapes the performance of these institutions. This study proposes new directions for exploring the leadership-performance nexus in informal institutions and within BRICS, a key player seeking to reform global economic governance

Brazilian Alliance Perspectives: Towards a BRICS Development–security Alliance?

Scholars studying BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) have traditionally argued that it is a development-focused partnership and not a military/security-based alliance. Yet BRICS members have been deepening their security integration, and Russia and China have been creating an alliance in the background. Although BRICS middle powers have traditionally demonstrated an aversion towards alliances, Brazil actively deepened security cooperation among BRICS members during its BRICS presidency in 2019. How does Brazil view alliances in contemporary power competition? This study examines Brazil’s perceptions by introducing and analysing a new data set of Brazilian expert discourses on alliances since 1990 and using its participation in BRICS as an empirical case. It finds that Brazil does not consider its security relationships with BRICS states to be more significant than those with non-BRICS states. However, BRICS enables Brazil to advance its specific security agenda that becomes embedded within the group’s developmental orientation. While theorising about middle powers traditionally links these powers to international organisations, their pursuit of development–security agendas in rising power groups is an important front in contemporary power competition

The Dynamics of Informal Institutions and Counter-Hegemony: Introducing a BRICS Convergence Index

Informal institutions are important platforms for renegotiating global governance, but there is disagreement on how they operate and challenge the United States (US). Realists view some informal institutions like Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) as counter-hegemonic entities, while rational institutionalists focus on their structure and performance in specific areas. However, neither approach explains the internal dynamics that make these institutions robust and potentially counter-hegemonic. To fill this gap, we first develop a new convergence approach for analysing informal institutional dynamics, and then we apply this approach to examine BRICS robustness and BRICS–US relations. Our BRICS Convergence Index measures policy convergence of the BRICS states using a novel data set of BRICS cooperation on 47 policy issues between 2009 and 2021. Using data on US policy preferences on the same issues, we also identify the key sites of BRICS–US contestation. We find an overall increase in BRICS policy convergence and limited divergence from US preferences across a wide range of policy issues. However, since BRICS has engaged with more security issues after 2015 and substantively deepened its cooperation, its capability to counter US influence has grown. Our convergence-focused analysis of informal institutions embraces members’ agency and pathways for institution building, while identifying the issues that bind rival countries. As such, it helps explain how informal institutions gain robustness and provides empirical insights into the rise of new powers and global governance reform efforts

Phosphorylation and Stabilization of PIN1 by JNK Promote Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma Growth.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is a highly aggressive type of liver cancer in urgent need of treatment options. Aberrant activation of the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway is a key feature in ICC and an attractive candidate target for its treatment. However, the mechanisms by which constitutive JNK activation promotes ICC growth, and therefore the key downstream effectors of this pathway, remain unknown for their applicability as therapeutic targets. Our aim was to obtain a better mechanistic understanding of the role of JNK signaling in ICC that could open up therapeutic opportunities. APPROACH AND RESULTS: Using loss-of-function and gain-of-function studies in vitro and in vivo, we show that activation of the JNK pathway promotes ICC cell proliferation by affecting the protein stability of peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase NIMA-interacting 1 (PIN1), a key driver of tumorigenesis. PIN1 is highly expressed in ICC primary tumors, and its expression positively correlates with active JNK. Mechanistically, the JNK kinases directly bind to and phosphorylate PIN1 at Ser115, and this phosphorylation prevents PIN1 mono-ubiquitination at Lys117 and its proteasomal degradation. Moreover, pharmacological inhibition of PIN1 through all-trans retinoic acid, a Food and Drug Administration-approved drug, impairs the growth of both cultured and xenografted ICC cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings implicate the JNK-PIN1 regulatory axis as a functionally important determinant for ICC growth, and provide a rationale for therapeutic targeting of JNK activation through PIN1 inhibition

Geographical and temporal distribution of SARS-CoV-2 clades in the WHO European Region, January to June 2020

We show the distribution of SARS-CoV-2 genetic clades over time and between countries and outline potential genomic surveillance objectives. We applied three available genomic nomenclature systems for SARS-CoV-2 to all sequence data from the WHO European Region available during the COVID-19 pandemic until 10 July 2020. We highlight the importance of real-time sequencing and data dissemination in a pandemic situation. We provide a comparison of the nomenclatures and lay a foundation for future European genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2.Peer reviewe

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries