The Brazil，Russia，India，China and South Africa partnership association is the brain child of Goldman Sachs，an Investment Company that coined the term. At first it was viewed as a meeting of four of the most vibrant economies（emerging economies）in the world at the turn of the century. The growth of South Africa as the foremost economy in Africa accorded it privilege of membership into the loose grouping of countries that share interests in particular areas（economy，development）. What started as side-lines meetings during the UN General Assembly in New York quickly grew into a multilateral alternative force for global development. It is now an established fact that the Brazil，Russia，India，China and South Africa（BRICS）platform represents one of the most significant developments in global governance in the twenty first century. The bloc brings together significant members of emerging powers from the global south，each playing significant regional roles in South America，South Asia，Eurasia and Africa.Within a very short period of time，the BRICS platform has brought together powers that have become strategic in global discourses，taking significant international decisions and playing a pivotal role in the negotiation of major global affairs. Individually，BRICS states bring economic and political stature to international partnerships during a period when the old western- world system is under pressure to transform. What brings the BRICS together is a desire to change the world system to one that reflects the diversity of world power，cultures，economies and societies. They share this reformist agenda and the determination to exercise relevance in the hope of a just and fair world system. This is facilitated by the fact that the five BRICS countries make up about 25 percent of the global GDP and host more than 40 percent of the world’s population；a population which is spread across five continents.[1]The end of the Cold War and the beginning of the twenty-first century ushered in a shift in global power distribution giving credence to a broader alliance of states in the global South to address the issues of global economic inequality that the UN has been debating since the 1960s. At issue is whether or not the BRICS have sufficient collective power to influence global affairs including decisions in the UN Security Council and other global institutions（WTO，IMF，WB）.To address the question of relevance of BRICS in the second decade of the twenty first century，one needs to answer the following questions：·Is the BRICS a community of states or is it simply a group of solidarity between member states？·What are the criteria for inclusion？·Are the criteria still relevant today？·Is expansion possible and if so how do we bring in new members？·Have the developmental needs of the people of BRICS countries been addressed？In order words are the citizens of BRICS part of the processes of association？·What are the processes used in BRICS development？The reality on the ground has been that while BRICS pronouncements hint at a broader conception and indeed understanding，the realities of the forms of engagement still resonate with more traditional forms of alliance building that are aimed less at transformation than at coordinating individual national self-interests.Whilst the transformation from a side-lines meeting of Foreign ministers at the UN General Assembly into a Head of State meeting was quick，the more substantive cooperation and the development of pathways towards integration of policies has been incremental. We have seen some positive movements in certain areas of economic cooperation，academic and intellectual cooperation（this Think Tank Summit is one such example）and finance and banking. A web of networks are been created with a view to build consensus on important issues and to encourage heads of state to include those issues at larger global fora such as the G-20 and indeed the UN. This approach is a marked departure from the top-down approach of traditional multilateral cooperation led by the more developed states of Europe and America.