BRICKSJAM: Integration to create new balance in the world

     I presented several ideas at the meeting and also proposed a new concept never before mentioned in other seminars and I would like to share that concept in this article. My idea is to build a real third power in the world in order to create a new balance, especially now in time of crisis.

     There are many reasons for the world needing a real third pole of power. First, the current poles of power in the world are in trouble and in a downturn. Consider NAFTA, the first pole of power of which America is the leader, though the United States (US) still must recover from its economic recession. The US economic growth rate has been low and its unemployment rate has been high, at about 10 percent for a long time. Although the US Government has tried implementing several measures to stimulate the economy, the situation has not improved. It is expected that this situation will continue for a while. The second pole of power, the European Union (EU), of which German and France are leaders, has been facing a public debt crisis that started with Greece and has grown steadily in many countries, such as Italy, the third largest economy in Europe. Many plans to bail out these countries have been launched, but haven?t worked. Therefore, it seems that the European Union will be in trouble for a long time.

     I have noted that civilizations generally last for about 400 years. Western Civilization, led by Europe has lasted for about 300 years. Later, America was a superpower for about 100 years. However, there is a clear signal that the civilizations of the world led by America and the West are declining and there are also signs of economic momentum moving away from America and Europe to other places. We can see that China is emerging as the country with the world's second largest economy and will become number one soon. There are also other regional powers outside of the US and the Western world.

     The second reason is that an over-reliance on US and EU, especially in economics, may bring the world towards recession. When the West declines, if there is no third pole of power, the world will fall deeply into problems, beginning with economic problems, leading to social problems and political conflict, as we have seen in Europe. To create a new balance by creating a real pole of new power could pull the world out of this recession, and would benefit the entire world, including the West. Therefore, I think it is necessary to have three poles of power in this era in order to realign the world in peace and to develop to its full potential.

     How to create the world's third pole of power?

     I have proposed the concept of integration as BRICKSJAM, in which BRICKS in English means several brick pieces that are the core, with JAM as the connectors. These will build a new integrated civilization outside the West.

BRICKSJAM is an acronym of country names, with this group of countries selected for a reason. Each country in BRICKSJAM is important to a worldwide rise to power.

     These countries are;

     B - Brazil, the mainstay of South American countries 

     R - Russia, the superpower of the European countries outside NATO 

     I - India, the rising power of Asia

     C - China, the rising power of the world

     K - South Korea, one of the top largest economies in the world

     S - South Africa, a leader of Africa

     J - Japan, the world's third largest economic power

     A - ASEAN, a region with a population of 600 million, which is a very large economy

     M - the Middle Eastern countries, a major economic bloc that has one natural resource that the world needs, oil. These countries are both rich and poor. Rich countries are the Gulf State countries (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman). They are the mainstay in the Middle East.

     When these countries join together, it will create, in the long run, a civilization outside of the US and Western civilization that are weakening. The combination of BRICKSJAM will support and balance a world that is in the midst of problems. However, to create the new pole of power in the world, or the new civilization, economic, social, and political coordination are needed (just as a civilization will collapse where these elements are not coordinated). BRICKSJAM at the beginning needs to combine its economic, social, and political elements together, and I propose ASEAN as the core of the integration.

     ASEAN countries have had a history and an institution of their own for at least 50 years, while other countries have not. ASEAN's institutional structure has been developed to a certain extent in terms of political, security, economic, social and cultural aspects. Now, ASEAN countries will become the ASEAN Community in 2015, within the next three years.

     We can see ASEAN expand from ASEAN to ASEAN+3 or ASEAN+6. Therefore, the development of BRICKSJAM would not be difficult. The integration of BRICKJAM could use the same kind of structure utilized in ASEAN.

     The ten countries of ASEAN can link to all other countries in BRICKSJAM. For example, some ASEAN countries are Muslim countries that can link with the Muslim countries in the Middle East. Diversity in ASEAN countries at different levels of development and with harmless attitudes will usher in good cooperation for all parties.

     This is only a basic idea which I have presented. There are still many issues to consider, such as the level of combination, mechanisms and structures of power, etc. We need further serious discussion and debate on these issues. If we consider the context and what is happening in the world, we will find that the world is actually in recession and needs some structural mechanisms that will support the forward movement of the world and benefit all parties, regardless of which nationalities we are.