Incentives Behind the Choice to Accept or Decline BRICS Membership: A Comparative Study of Saudi Arabia and Indonesia

The expansion of BRICS as both an economic and geopolitical bloc in the Global South presents a compelling puzzle in international relations. Despite sharing structural characteristics such as G20 membership, strong economic ties with China, rising powers have arrived at divergent decisions regarding BRICS membership. This thesis examines Saudi Arabia and Indonesia as case studies to explore the reasons behind their contrasting responses. Drawing on role theory, the research investigates how identity influences national role conceptions and ultimately shapes foreign policy behaviour. The decision to accept or reject BRICS membership is analysed as a reflection of a state’s perceived compatibility between its national role conception and the expected behaviours arising from an organisation’s identity. Methodologically, the thesis combines Process Tracing with a Most Similar Systems Design (MSSD) to establish causal mechanisms and isolate the explanatory role of identity. The findings...Show moreThe expansion of BRICS as both an economic and geopolitical bloc in the Global South presents a compelling puzzle in international relations. Despite sharing structural characteristics such as G20 membership, strong economic ties with China, rising powers have arrived at divergent decisions regarding BRICS membership. This thesis examines Saudi Arabia and Indonesia as case studies to explore the reasons behind their contrasting responses. Drawing on role theory, the research investigates how identity influences national role conceptions and ultimately shapes foreign policy behaviour. The decision to accept or reject BRICS membership is analysed as a reflection of a state’s perceived compatibility between its national role conception and the expected behaviours arising from an organisation’s identity. Methodologically, the thesis combines Process Tracing with a Most Similar Systems Design (MSSD) to establish causal mechanisms and isolate the explanatory role of identity. The findings suggest that different perceptions of compatibility between national role conception, which are informed by identity, and expected role conception embedded in BRICS’s identity account for the divergent membership decisions of Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.Show less

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Incentives Behind the Choice to Accept or Decline BRICS Membership: A Comparative Study of Saudi Arabia and Indonesia