Bates College Journal of Political Studies
Abstract
South Africa has framed its BRICS membership as a strategic pivot from the West to the Global South. However, the country remains close to the Western-led order and reproduces unequal economic relations with its regional neighbors. This paper argues that South Africa's inability to break its dependency on the West and reorient itself towards BRICS is caused by an elite-driven approach to IPE that deepens longstanding dependencies, feeds into corruption, and encourages accumulation by dispossession. After establishing a theoretical framework based on dependency theory, world systems theory, and sub-imperialism, this paper identifies the minerals-energy complex (MEC), neoliberal post-apartheid reforms, and elite-centered governance as drivers of South Africa's failure to economically decouple from the West. Empirically, it shows that South Africa remains more economically dependent on Western trade partners than on BRICS, and in turn reproduces dependencies in southern Africa by leveraging its disproportionate regional power. It concludes by calling for a change to the governance of BRICS that de-centers elites.
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Recommended Citation
Kuppa-Apte, Karan
(2026)
"Kissing Up, Kicking Down: How BRICS Enables South African Sub-Imperialism,"
Bates College Journal of Political Studies: Vol. 3:
Iss.
1, Article 6.
Available at:
https://scarab.bates.edu/bjps/vol3/iss1/6