The focus of this dissertation is the evolution of BRICS in Russian foreign policy. It tells this overarching story through the lens of three overlapping narratives. The first is the evolution of Russian elite rhetoric about the West, and the increasing antagonism of that rhetoric, since the turn of the millennium. The second is how Russian leaders have framed the idea of the BRICS group in the narrative they created about Russian relations with the West and Russia’s role in the international system. The third is the story of BRICS itself: its development as a group in the international arena, its past achievements and future prospects, and its broader impact on global governance.
The main argument is as follows: BRICS has become more important to Russia as a result of the rupture in relations with the West following the onset of the crisis in Ukraine in February 2014. Simultaneously, BRICS itself has begun to constitute an important part of a changing world order, primarily because the imbalances in global economic governance it originally sought to address remain unresolved. These two phenomena, combined with the silence of the BRICS countries in the face of Russian violations of international norms during the Ukraine crisis, are evidence of an accelerating fragmentation of the current international order.
The dissertation uses rhetorical analysis as the primary methodology. Political rhetoric is an indication of what leaders would have the public understand to be true, even if it is not. When the rhetoric changes, it gives insight into a shift in how leaders wish their positions to be perceived. When that shift is precipitated by dramatic changes in a country’s internal or external environment, an adjustment in rhetoric can be indication of where policy may be headed even before those concrete changes are visible. Rhetoric, therefore, is an integral part of the policy process. In focusing on this area of policy creation, this dissertation provides a window into the role of rhetoric in the conceptualization of Russian foreign policy, and the extent to which that rhetoric becomes manifested in reality
