BRICS: Legal Nature and Principles of Cooperation

BRICS is a relatively new phenomenon in modern international political and economic life, gaining momentum and attracting more and more lawyers’ attention. The central issues in this case are, firstly, the legal nature of the group of five states itself — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and secondly, the place, nature, content of the principles on which international cooperation of this entity is based. Accordingly, the paper considers these issues through the prism of theoretical analysis from the standpoint of international legal science, in which the identification of the legal nature of the interaction of the BRICS countries is not only a prerequisite, but also, in essence, the foundation for solving the problem of legal qualification of the principles of cooperation between them. Thus, it answers the question on the relationship of the latter with other principles in the system of international law. For this purpose, the study adopts two alternative options: the status of an international institution if it is established that BRICS has features of an international organization or integration association; and its recognition as a paraorganization if none of such features exist.