BRICS, middle-income countries (MICs), and global agrarian transformations: Internal dynamics, regional trends, and international implications
Abstract
The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) countries are emerging
as key sites of agricultural commodity production, distribution, circulation, and
consumption, contributing to major shifts in the character of regional and
global agro-food systems. Their growing importance within the world food
economy presents new challenges for scholars, activists, policy-makers, and
development practitioners. The articles in this collection are located in their
wider context, and the significance of their insights for a longer term
research agenda within critical agrarian studies is explored. Four key themes
are discussed: processes of agrarian change under way within BRICS
countries; the role and impacts of BRICS countries in their respective regions;
the rising importance of middle-income countries (MICs) within global and
regional agro-food systems; and how the recent emergence of forms of
populism, authoritarianism, and combinations of these two (i.e. ‘authoritarian
populism’) is linked to the rise of the BRICS.