week 7

flashcards / synonyms

shift  to

account for

yearn for

at odds with

 on the global stage

struggle with

in response to 

engage in

compared to

 a catalyst for 

India has always been the indispensable swing vowel in the BRICS acronym. 

India and the US have long regarded Pakistan, which notoriously sheltered Osama bin Laden, as an enabler of international terrorism. 

In recent years, however, the global environment has changed dramatically.

All these goals are being pursued in a variety of multilateral forums.

But the matter was not officially discussed at the meeting and featured only tentatively in the closing declaration. 

The BRIC acronym – created by then-Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill in 2001 – was initially impelled by a vision of economic cooperation. 

The BRICS seemed to be emerging as the premier platform of the Global South, articulating developing countries’ dissent from the so-called Washington Consensus – a tendency underscored by the addition of South Africa, the only African economy in the G20. 

As a result, the BRICS appears to be undergoing an identity crisis. 

India is said to have had a crucial hand in the drafting of the Beijing Declaration’s single reference to the bloc’s enlargement, buried deep within the 75-paragraph document. 

Indian foreign-policy mandarins initially saw the group as a useful platform to increase India’s international influence, in keeping with its traditional role as a leader of the developing world. 

If the bloc’s current strategic direction and possible enlargement push the country toward the exit, the grouping will become not just unpronounceable, but also unviable.