The countries of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, dubbed “BRIC” by Goldman Sachs’s Jim O’Neil, have been grouped together because they are in the same stage of economic development but can’t quite be considered developed countries. Recently, these countries have experienced explosive growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and overall global trading power. Since 2008, when most of the world’s developed nations were in periods of slow growth, no growth, or even contraction, these developing countries were experiencing high growth, sometimes in the double digits percentages. These countries have done this by seeking out opportunities for cooperation in trade, investments, infrastructure development and other areas. …show more content…
This often causes political uncertainty, as we see in Syria and as we did in Libya. Russia has a vested interest in delaying a resolution to the fighting because they are the ones selling the arms being used during these conflicts and there is no guarantee that the new leaders of the country will be purchasers from them, rather than the US. Other manufacturing sectors like automotives, aviation, and electronics have had trouble gain market share outside of Russian, and therefore provide minimal jobs and overall GDP growth.
Russia is the world’s second largest producer of grain behind the United States but in recent years has experienced droughts and fires that have cause the Russian government to ban exports. This has caused the worldwide prices of grain to increase and has forced countries that rely on this grain to find other sources. When we talk of Russia and growing global importance, you must talk about their dominance of the natural gas market and military presence. Russia currently provides about 25% of all the natural gas that is consumed in Europe, 80% of which comes through Ukraine. (Raytchev, 2012) By have that much control over a commodity that is necessary for survival, Russia has put it’s self in a position of power. This power is only increasing as they continue to consolidate the energy market and growth their overall GDP. Although the country is