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This paper assesses the role of the BASIC countries — Brazil, South Africa, India, and China — in UN climate change negotiations. The paper explores the formation and evolution of the group, and focuses on how the four major developing countries of China, India, Brazil, and South Africa have coordinated their positions and acted jointly to achieve an agreed outcome with other players in the recent UN Climate Change Conferences in Copenhagen and Cancun, based on an analysis of their country profiles and negotiation positions on a wide range of climate issues. The paper argues that the emergence of the BASIC Group is a reflection of the ongoing power shift from EU–US agreement to BASIC–US compromise in UN climate negotiations since the early 1990s. The rise of BASIC also has its roots in recent global market dynamics and further reflects the power transformation in the economic dimension of the international system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on recent and upcoming mega-events in South Africa, China and Brazil, this paper contrasts and critiques the associated image and identity opportunities and risks, as well as comparative motivations for hosting such events. Accordingly, the paper considers the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the scheduled 2014 World Cup and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics in Brazil. In the context of an increasing number of mega-events being hosted in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India and China; South Africa is to join), the paper provides broader continuity and introduces a broader research agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]