The COALITION OF CONTRADICTIONS: Nations, Rivalries and Ambitions Inside BRICS+

BRICS+ is powerful enough to complicate the old order-and divided enough to resist becoming a new one. BRICS+ is often described as either an anti-Western alliance or an empty talking shop. Both labels miss the mechanism that gives the coalition influence: states with conflicting interests can still coordinate when they share an incentive to widen their options and reduce dependence on Western-controlled institutions. The Coalition of Contradictions examines the members on their own terms. China brings economic scale and institutional ambition. India pursues strategic autonomy while resisting Chinese hierarchy. Russia seeks insulation from Western pressure. Brazil and South Africa convert regional standing into global voice. New members and partners across the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia add energy, geography, capital and new fault lines. Whitaker follows the coalition through summit diplomacy, the New Development Bank, trade and payment initiatives, expansion debates and recurring tensions-from the China-India rivalry to Iran-Gulf competition and disagreements over war, sanctions and political alignment. The result is a clear account of what consensus can deliver, where it stalls, and how agenda-setting power can matter even without collective defense or supranational authority. Volume Two reveals a coalition that can coordinate without integrating, challenge without replacing, and gain leverage precisely because its members do not need to agree on everything.