The group of countries that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, or BRICS, has become a major player on the international stage. The BRICS states comprise approximately 3 billion people (~40% of the World’s population) and in terms of GDP account for 16 trillion dollars (~20% of the World’s economy). Thus, what happens in the BRICS countries has a huge influence in the world’s economic, political, social and environmental affairs. Over the last decade the loose coalition has evolved to become a formal partnership on both economic and political fronts. The first formal meeting of the then-four BRIC countries took place in 2006 during the United Nations General Assembly. This was followed in 2009 by the first summit of BRICS’ heads of state, an event which has been convened annually ever since. In September 2017, the ninth BRICS Summit will be hosted in Xiamen, China.

In the last three decades, BRICS partners have significantly increased their political, financial and economic influence worldwide. Some have become important aid donors to developing states and significant investors in both emerging and developed economies. China, in particular, is now one of the leading investors worldwide. Recently, the BRICS created the New Development Bank (NDB) and China played a leading role in the establishment of the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). There is hope that the BRICS’ investments may assist in transforming the international aid landscape to become more pluralistic and equitable. The BRICS states have also expressed interest in using aid to transfer some of their successful experiences to emerging economies and to exert soft power in stimulating their growth. In pursuit of this objective, BRICS’ agencies and officials are paying considerably more attention to the effectiveness of aid and investment in other countries. On the other hand, whilst many countries recognize the importance of BRICS in the international aid landscape, concerns have also been expressed about the impact of BRICS’ aid on the recipient countries.

However, research on the potential impacts of the flow of international development aid to, from, and between BRICS countries has been limited. Adding complexity to this process, some BRICS states are both recipients of aid and simultaneously aid donors and confront the dual task of governing the inflows and outflows of aid. The BRICS have increasing, but limited, experience in aid governance, development management, and measurement of the effectiveness of aid. Following the “First International Symposium on Development and Governance in the BRICS” held at Fudan University in 2016, this second symposium, therefore, aims to explore the varied dimensions of international development aid in the BRICS and to analyze their theoretical and practical implications for public administration and development. To that end, the symposium has a central focus on the governance and performance of development aid in the context of the emergence of BRICS. Papers may focus on general aspects of international development aid in and from the BRICS, or on specific studies in one or more sectors or regions.

Scientific Committee

Chris Alden, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK

Alexey Barabashev, Higher School of Economics, Russia

Nilima Gulrajani, Overseas Development Institute, UK

Yijia Jing, Fudan University, China

Navdeep Mathur, Indian Institute of Management

Jose A. Puppim de Oliveira, Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV), Brazil

Christopher Tapscott, University of the Western Cape, South Africa

ONTRIBUTIONS FORMAT AND PROCEDURES

Extended abstracts should be between 300 and 500 words and should include the main points that will be covered in the article. Theories/perspectives, research methods, results and findings should also be briefly described.

Articles should be between 5,000 and 7,000 words.

Abstracts and papers should be submitted by email only. Please email your abstract to: brics_pa@fudan.edu.cn

Label your message “Abstract for the BRICS symposium 2017”.

Abstracts and papers should be submitted in MS Word format (version 97-2003 or any more recent version). Save the file as the last name of the first author.

LOGISTICS

We will offer three-night hotel on Sep 22, 23 and 24 and provide conference meals for a limited number of selected papers (one author per paper).