Soft Balancing: BRICS and the Challenge to US Primacy

Soft Balancing: BRICS and the Challenge to US Primacy
Authors: Mohammad-Ali Shirkhani, Rahim Bayzidi, Mojtaba Rezazadeh
Journal: Political Science Research Quarterly (Pazhuheshname-ye Oloum-e Siyasi)
Volume: 9
Issue: 3
Publication date: Summer 1393 (2014)

Article introduction
This article examines BRICS’s role in challenging US primacy in the international system. It posits that BRICS countries, using a soft-balancing strategy, seek to improve their standing in the global structure while avoiding direct confrontation with US hegemony.
The study shows that, given its population and economic strength, BRICS employs various tools and mechanisms of soft balancing to enhance its influence through economic, political, and institutional cooperation, thereby increasing its leverage in world affairs without provoking direct military conflict with the United States. Using a descriptive method, the article analyzes the group’s formation and the mechanisms deployed to implement this strategy.