Why Religious Differences Could Reduce BRICS Cooperation

With its expansion to BRICS+ from 2024, the organization that was once conceived as a pan-regional economic cooperation group is increasingly expected to become a new pole of power, challenging the Western-led order. However, behind the bold statements about “de-Westernization” or “multipolarization of the world,” BRICS is facing a little-discussed reality that could undermine the foundation of cooperation in the long term: deep religious differences and secularization within the group.