Contagious convergent cumulative cooperation: the dynamic development of the G20, BRICS and SCO

The institutional development and performance of the Group 20 (G20), BRICS group Brazil, Russia, India, China South Africa, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) have shaped twenty-first-century global governance. Each these plurilateral summit institutions (PSIs) has different founding visions, missions, memberships, participants, institutionalisation patterns priorities. However, potential for competition soon gave way to contagious, convergent, cumulative cooperation. By 2021, each was countering COVID-19–created crises in a mutually reinforcing way. extended outreach new members or regular guest leaders, expanded their civil society engagement, embraced economic finance, social sustainability political-security issues. They increased on major dimensions governance supportive, if highly implicit, ways. three big non-western Asian powers—China, Russia India—at core PSIs drove this dynamic, convergence applied lessons learnt across all PSIs. This reinforced by increasing, shared need guide globalisation counter its shocks, from financial crisis 1997–1999 COVID-19 pandemic 2020–2021.