Brazil, India and South Africa Must Do More to Be Powers: View

With this summer’s debt-ceiling fiasco, it is clearer than ever that Washington’s leadership is not what it used to be. For that reason, there is a greater need for the U.S. to act in concert with other major powers to solve international problems.

Much attention has justifiably focused on Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- the so-called BRICS -- as a group of economically rising countries that could play a growing role in stabilizing their regions and helping the West promote a rules-based international system. Unfortunately, these nations don’t share the same interests and values, and are unlikely to act collectively. Three of the five -- India, Brazil and South Africa -- often don’t seem to demonstrate the awareness that international leadership comes with responsibilities as well as privileges.