BRICS and Security in a Multipolar World: State Agency in Central and Southeast Asia

The international order is undergoing structural transformation, with non-Western multilateral formats — most notably BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) — accruing institutional weight and political salience at pace. BRICS recently experienced significant enlargement, expanding from 5 to 10 members between 2023 and 2024; Indonesia's formal accession in January 2025 made it the first Southeast Asian state to hold full membership; Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam are in active pursuit of partner or member status. In Central Asia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan were designated BRICS partner countries at the 2024 Kazan summit. Scholarly attention has tracked parts of this transformation: existing literature has examined BRICS and SCO as economic and diplomatic platforms for South-South cooperation and counter-terrorism coordination. However, their role in reshaping security governance at the regional level — and the agency of states in Central and Southeast Asia in navigating this transformation — remains largely unstudied from a comparative perspective.The collection seeks to generate two types of contribution. Empirically, it aims to produce case-study and comparative research on how states in Central and Southeast Asia — including BRICS members, partner states, and non-members — are positioning themselves within, and shaping, the evolving BRICS-SCO security architecture. Theoretically, it will advance understanding of how non-Western multilateral formats interact with sovereignty norms, hedging strategies, and regional order-building in the Global South. By bringing together area specialists from both regions alongside scholars of multilateralism and international security theory, the Research Topic will generate a cross-regional knowledge base with direct relevance for scholars, practitioners in regional organizations (ASEAN, SCO), and policymakers navigating the strategic consequences of BRICS expansion. This collection directly supports SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).The collection welcomes original research articles, systematic reviews, conceptual analyses, and perspective pieces organized around three thematic pillars:1) Institutional Dynamics of BRICS and SCO • The role of BRICS and the SCO as security actors in Central and Southeast Asia.• Institutional overlap and complementarity (or tension) between BRICS, SCO, ASEAN, and other frameworks.• Member-state and partner-state engagement strategies.2) State Agency, Hedging, and Alignment • How small and middle powers leverage, resist, or selectively engage BRICS-SCO mechanisms.• Multi-vectoral foreign policy strategies• Non-alignment renewal in the context of intensifying great-power competition.3) Norms, Sovereignty, and Theory • Diffusion of sovereignty and non-interference norms through BRICS and SCO frameworks.• Comparative theoretical analysis of non-Western multilateralism.• Applicability of IR theory to security dynamics in both regions.Contributions are encouraged to engage the comparative dimension explicitly. Both qualitative and mixed-methods approaches are welcome. The editors particularly encourage submissions from scholars based in Central and Southeast Asia. Topic editors: Marina Glaser, Evgeny Kanaev, Dr. Nandini Basistha Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/80302/brics-and-security-in-a-multipolar-world-state-agency-in-central-and-southeast-asia