BRICS Cooperation and Inequality: Institutional Constraints on Inclusive Development

Global inequality remains a major challenge despite sustained economic growth, and BRICS has attracted attention as a platform for South-South cooperation and alternative development financing. This article examines the relationship between BRICS cooperation, economic development, and inequality, with particular focus on the limits of existing cooperation mechanisms and relevant policy options. The study adopts a qualitative narrative review and policy analysis based on secondary academic literature, BRICS policy documents, and international development reports. The findings show that although BRICS has expanded cooperation in infrastructure, development finance, and trade, its capacity to promote inclusive development remains constrained by internal inequalities, uneven development trajectories, and institutional asymmetries among member states. As a result, collective initiatives often support growth-oriented objectives more effectively than distributional outcomes. The article concludes that BRICS can contribute more meaningfully to inequality reduction only if member states strengthen institutional coordination, address domestic development gaps, and integrate inclusiveness more explicitly into cooperation frameworks. The study contributes to the literature by linking internal inequality within BRICS countries to the effectiveness and limitations of regional cooperation.