Ed. by T. L. Deich and E. N. Korendyasov.

Moscow: Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2013, 306 p.

A peer-reviewed monograph is devoted to the formation of a relatively new organization - BRICS, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and its transformation into an important player on the world stage.

The dynamic development of the so-called rising economies at the turn of the XX-XXI centuries clearly marked the global trend towards a shift in the global axis of development from the Euro-Atlantic zone to the Asia-Pacific zone. The group of states of "successful development and prosperity" with 12% of the world's population (the"golden billion") can no longer maintain hegemony in relation to the 88% of the world's inhabitants who do not want to put up with the status of the world's periphery.

In the preface to the book, Academician A. M. Vasiliev points out the great importance that the BRICS African spectrum is gaining due to the increasing rates of economic development in the continent's countries - in the last two decades, they averaged 5%. Africa's total GDP is projected to reach $ 2.6 trillion by 2020, an increase of 38%. The continent's role and influence in world affairs is growing.

African countries have become important trade and economic partners of the BRICS member States. Their accumulated direct investments on the continent exceed $ 80-90 billion, and their trade turnover is $ 280 billion. As the author notes, the South African Standard Bank estimates that it will grow to 500 billion rubles by 2020 (p. 10). At the expense of African countries, the BRICS countries meet a significant part of their needs for energy and mineral resources.

According to I. O. Abramova ("The new role of Africa in the world economy of the XXI century"), an important change in the economic model of the world was the rise of large developing countries (PCs), primarily China and India, which leads to the formation of new rules of the game within the world economic space, as it causes a gradual change in the territorial location of the changes in the structure of production; transformation of the world trade system; evolution of the direction, scale and nature of global financial flows; change in the model of world consumption; change in the quality and structure of the world labor market. "In the new environment," she says, " the role of developing countries in the global economy is constantly growing. At the same time, the gap between developed countries and the world's periphery in terms of per capita income continues to widen " (p. 17). I. O. Abramova points out that in the next thirty years, it may happen that "for the first time in modern and modern history, the world's largest economies will not, from the point of view of per capita indicators, at the same time the richest" (p. 17), and global businesses will have to largely change the prevailing business strategies and adapt to the needs of less affluent but more numerous consumers.

L. L. Fituni ("BRICS Countries and the Reform of the Global Financial Architecture") He focused on the financial situation in developing countries, attracting foreign capital and increasing financial flows between individual countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The author proves that in the 2000s, despite all the difficulties and uneven development, different potentials, developing countries for the first time" had the opportunity to consolidate significant own funds, which they can dispose of at their discretion, based on their own vision of development priorities and investment efficiency " (p.46). This was facilitated by the processes of internationalization and globalization of corporations in developing countries, especially BRICS members, the growth and global expansion of so-called sovereign funds, crisis phenomena in the financial sector of the developed world, etc.

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According to L. L. Fituni, BRICS acts as a harbinger and conductor of reform of the existing model of world economic development. His policies resemble those once described as "anti-imperialist." That is why the West is trying to "contain" BRICS by, firstly, preventing the consolidation of the association into a practically active force of global significance and, secondly, by creating alternative groupings. In practice, this is reflected in the regular juxtaposition within the BRICS of the two" largest democracies "in the world (India and Brazil) to the two "largest dictatorships" (China and the Russian Federation); in statements that Russia unfairly occupies a place among the leaders that it got by chance, thanks to the favorable oil situation; and, finally, statements that the association itself is nothing serious, as it is a political fiction necessary for China and Russia to satisfy their geopolitical ambitions.

In the section "BRICS and Africa: potential for Partnership and interaction", E. N. Korendyasov, giving a detailed description of the economic development of the BRICS countries, indicates that today they account for approximately 20% of world GDP (p. 49). Using economic indicators, the author shows that BRICS and Africa have quite powerful incentives for mutual rapprochement, including the common historical past associated with the era of colonial and semi-colonial dependence; convergence of upward development trajectories; objectively justified desire of both sides to take a more prominent and more influential place in the system of international relations, the choice in favor of a multipolar world order a firm commitment to a fairly deep reorganization of the existing international multilateral structures of global governance, which are currently under the control of Western powers, where developing countries are more likely to play the role of marginals.

E. N. Korsundyasov notes with good reason that " BRICS is not a political bloc, but only a forum. Achieving cohesive performances on the international stage is quite difficult within BRICS and even more difficult within the African Union" (p. 53). In addition, we should not lose sight of the influence of such factors as the affiliation of African countries and BRICS member states to many other international associations: for example, Russia and China play a leading role in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). As observers, China, the United States, and the EU are members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, etc.Nevertheless, the process of solidarity within BRICS and between it and African countries is developing quite dynamically. The Etekwin Declaration of the Fifth BRICS Summit, held in Durban, South Africa, on March 26-27, 2013, emphasized that the goal of the organization was to transform BRICS into a full-fledged mechanism for ongoing and long-term coordination on a wide range of key issues of the global economy and politics.

In developing cooperation with the continent, BRICS adheres to principles that differ markedly from the policy of development assistance from traditional partners. First, it is a commitment to the "win-win" principle. The terms "donor country" and "recipient country"are excluded. The parties are equal partners, and each receives its own benefits from cooperation. Cooperation is built on a pragmatic basis, without explicit links to political and ideological conditions. Their nomination is considered a violation of national sovereignty. BRICS carefully dissociates itself from the demand for such common conditions in the practice of Western countries as compliance with the rules of good governance, the implementation of democratic reforms, and the fight against violations of individual rights and freedoms.

The African continent is an attractive and highly profitable investment destination for the BRICS countries, especially in the context of narrowing the scope of relevant opportunities in developed countries, where the market situation remains unstable. The improving investment climate on the continent, as well as the rising cost of labor in the BRICS countries themselves, are important incentives for moving towards African countries.

At the same time, as E. N. Korendyasov rightly points out, the large-scale expansion of the BRICS countries, especially China, raises a number of concerns in the African and expert political community, which are primarily related to the deepening of the continent's resource and raw material specialization. Another threat is that the large flow of goods and services from the BRICS countries undermines local handicraft production, the so-called informal economy, which leads to an aggravation of social problems.

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Marcondes Danilo de Souza Netto, PhD student in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Cambridge, points out in the section "Brazil's current politics in Africa" that this country is associated with the African continent by its status as a developing country, its location in the South Atlantic region and its Portuguese language. During the reign of President Lula da Silva (2003-2010), Brazil's contacts with Africa mainly developed in two directions: cooperation with South Africa because of its economic potential and influence in the South African region, and cooperation with Portuguese-speaking African countries, to which this Latin American country provided logistical assistance. In 2011, it included Africa in a new trade strategy focused primarily on cooperation in the areas of technology and professional training.

Li Anshan, a professor at the Center for African Studies at Peking University (Russian Economic Interests in Africa), rightly noted that "after the collapse of the Soviet Union and as a result of the difficulties encountered in the country during the transition to a market economy, Russia's presence in Africa significantly decreased" (p. 94), but in the 2000s, Russian-African relations with the the relationship began to take on a new dynamic. Russian-African trade exchanges increased 7.5 times from 2000 to 2012: from $ 1.6 billion to $ 12.17 billion, including 10 times with North African countries and 4.8 times with SSA countries (p.95). However, Russia is noticeably lagging behind other BRICS countries, and the trade turnover is concentrated in a small number of African countries: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia account for up to 80%. 70% of the trade turnover covers food and mineral raw materials, while only 24% remains for finished products and machine-building products (p. 97). However, Africa is a fairly large market for arms sales, which has a steady tendency to expand, and Russia is one of the major suppliers of heavy weapons to the African continent.

Biswas Aparajita, Professor of the Center for African Studies at the University of Mumbai, in his section "Dynamics of Indian-African Relations in the XXI century", pointed out the rapid development of Indian-African cooperation in the first decades of this century, due both to the fact that India has become an important player in the world economic arena, and to the growing needs of this Asian country for oil and natural resources. India's cooperation with African States is markedly different from that between the West and Africa. India's policy towards Africa is based on a mutually beneficial framework of South-South cooperation. Its main areas are trade, tourism and investment, and India's main partners on the African continent are South Africa, Nigeria, Angola, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia and Kenya. 2/3 of India's imports from Africa are gold and silver.

S. Mcgettlaneng, Head of the Governance and Security Program at the Africa Institute of South Africa ("South Africa's African Policy in the context of BRICS interests"), argues that from the point of view of industrial, agricultural, scientific and technological development, South Africa, which is the most developed country on the continent, represents the hope of all Africa for development and prosperity. The country's policy towards Africa in the context of BRICS involves solving such tasks as turning South Africa into a regional and continental leader; developing transport, port and pipeline infrastructure on the continent, which is extremely important for the socio-economic development of Africa. South Africa aspires to become an important world power, a prominent member of the Group of 20 and the UN (as a permanent member of the Security Council). South Africa's geopolitical aspirations are to reduce or even eliminate Western control over African regional and continental markets and resources; increase security on the continent; and shape a regional, continental, and global geopolitical balance of power.

According to the author, the interests of South Africa and other BRICS countries, which cover 43% of the world's population, completely coincide on the continent.

T. L. Deitch, in the section "The role of BRICS countries in resolving conflict and crisis situations in Africa", notes the BRICS countries ' readiness to work together in solving African security problems. In particular, they called for a political and diplomatic solution to the conflicts in Libya, Ivory Coast and Sudan, rather than military-military methods, and condemned the NATO bombing of Libya. The author rightly notes the decline in the last decade

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participation of Western states in UN peacekeeping operations on the African continent. "Today, this gap is actively filled by the Africans themselves, as well as" rising " states, in particular, the BRICS countries. At the same time, new players in this area are increasingly taking over operations" (p.173). The BRICS countries are not the main sources of funding for peacekeeping operations, but they are far ahead of the West in terms of the number of personnel in UN peacekeeping contingents.

I. B. Matsenko, in the section "BRICS and the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Africa", points out that "against the background of slowing economic development in most developed countries and reducing the budgets of traditional donors allocated for official development assistance (ODA), the role of traditional donors is noticeably increasing... the BRICS countries are gradually increasing their participation in the financing of ODA aimed at the implementation of the MDGs " (p. 187). The author focuses on the main MDGs-primary education coverage, combating AIDS, reducing child mortality, for which significant progress has been made in sub-Saharan Africa, and eliminating extreme poverty and hunger, reducing unemployment gender equality, and reducing maternal mortality, which most SSA countries still lag far behind in achieving. Moreover, as Matsenko rightly points out, poverty, hunger and unemployment are growing everywhere, gender inequality remains high, especially in the field of education and labor, and maternal mortality is not decreasing. The author focuses on the significant contribution of the BRICS countries to achieving the MDGs in global health: the main focus is on the production of cheap medicines, the development of diagnostics and vaccination, along with the growth of BRICS countries ' investments in the health sector.

V. L. Usov ("BRICS-Africa Partnership in Achieving the Goal of Food Security") convincingly proves that the problem of food security, partly related to the global financial and economic crisis that broke out in Western countries in the late 2010s, was complicated by several new circumstances: climate change; the transfer of significant agricultural areas that are suitable for the development of food security. for the production of food, for the production of biofuels; the transfer of land to foreign investors for the production of food for export, etc. From the very beginning of BRICS activities, food security issues have been the focus of the forum participants ' attention. In particular, the creation of an agricultural information base and the development of a strategy for ensuring access to food for the least protected groups of the population have begun.

O. S. Kulkova ("BRICS in Africa in the Context of EU Interests") concludes that so far," there are conflicting opinions within the participating countries themselves about the possibility of turning BRICS from a platform for joint discussion of problems and positions into a full-fledged mechanism for coordinated actions and a full-fledged and influential actor in the international arena " (271). In addition, the BRICS countries do not have such strong positions and not so bright prospects on the continent, as, for example, the EU states. However, reality is changing dynamically. BRICS activity reflects a shift in economic power from developed countries, especially those in Western Europe and Japan, to "rising countries" with growing market economies. The policy of the EU and BRICS in Africa, the author notes, is greatly influenced by the positions of these two organizations on the problems of forming a new world order. So far, the BRICS countries do not seek to oppose themselves to the Western powers that maintain their dominant positions in the world and want to establish more effective and equal interaction with them. In turn, Western countries seek to avoid unacceptable damage to themselves and maintain their dominance.

D. M. Bondarenko and J. P. Blavatsky Nkyabonaki ("Shaping the BRICS Image in Sub-Saharan Africa (using Tanzania as an example)") They point out that "a positive image in the mass consciousness of citizens of the contracting states is undoubtedly an important prerequisite for successful international cooperation, including in the economic, political and cultural spheres" (p.288). The authors make an absolutely fair conclusion that the louder the BRICS declares itself not just as a general designation of five states, but as a real international association that implements large-scale significant projects under its auspices, the faster the image of the BRICS itself will develop in the minds of Africans. However, some features of this image can already be seen. For example, in Tanzania, receiving increasingly large-scale external assistance, including from BRICS, has become the basis of the country's state development strategy.

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In general, the authors of the book tend to be optimistic about the prospects for "BRICS-African" cooperation, without downplaying the difficulties and threats that have already arisen and may still arise along this path.

The paper is a comprehensive study of the development of political and economic relations between BRICS and African countries - both between the continent and the organization as a whole, and between Africa and individual BRICS member countries. The book will certainly be useful not only for scholars of Oriental studies, but also for specialists in the field of international relations and foreign trade.

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