Abstract
This study examines how BRICS exercises reformist leadership within global economic governance through institutional innovation, normative discourse, and Global South representation. Contemporary global governance increasingly faces legitimacy crises associated with representational asymmetry, governance concentration, and structural inequalities embedded within Bretton Woods institutions. Although BRICS has emerged as a prominent coalition advocating multipolarity and governance reform, existing scholarship remains fragmented between discursive analyses and institution-centered studies, while the coalition’s post-2020 transformation remains insufficiently examined. To address this gap, the study employs an interpretive political economy approach using qualitative thematic content analysis of BRICS summit declarations, New Development Bank reports, Contingent Reserve Arrangement documents, and relevant academic literature published between 2010 and 2024. The findings demonstrate that BRICS has evolved beyond symbolic diplomatic coordination into a reform-oriented governance actor promoting institutional pluralism through development finance cooperation, local currency financing, and Global South solidarity discourse. The New Development Bank and Contingent Reserve Arrangement function as practical instruments of institutional diversification that expand governance alternatives without directly replacing dominant international financial institutions. However, internal geopolitical rivalry, economic asymmetry, and strategic divergence continue to constrain collective leadership capacity. This study contributes to global governance scholarship by advancing the concept of coalition-based reformist leadership and demonstrating how emerging powers increasingly shape governance transformation through institutional adaptation, normative entrepreneurship, and representational legitimacy within an evolving multipolar international order.
Keywords: BRICS, Development Finance, Global Economic Governance, Institutional Innovation, Multipolarity, Reformist Leadership.