The BRICs were different. Since O'Neill only looked at economics and never intended to devise a political alliance when he created the term, the countries he chose were very heterogeneous. Brazil and India are two democracies that are not yet fully established in today's order, while China and Russia have been established powers since 1945.

The four disagree on virtually everything, including trade, climate change, human rights, and the reform of global governance.

Despite all this, the BRICs turned into a household term among international policy- makers. Their leaders begun to refer to themselves as "BRIC members" and agreed that they needed to strengthen "intra-BRIC" ties.

In 2009 President Lula, President Medvedev, Prime Minister Singh and President Hu Jintao met for a BRIC summit in St. Petersburg. A second BRIC summit followed in April 2010 in Brasília.

Yet after initial optimism during negotiations and grand announcements about a "new world order," the BRIC members realized that their positions were too far apart to agree on any specific measures.

The BRICs' discontent with the system and claim for a greater say, their revisionist rhetoric, the vagueness about what should be changed and their eventually reluctant acknowledgement that the system is fundamentally sound showed that reality is more complicated than fiction, and that O'Neill's category is too broad to be meaningful.

What the success of the BRIC label really showed was that scholars and investors are not the only ones who search for a category that can capture reality. Heads of state long for a meaningful way to understand the world as well. The four leaders essentially met in St. Petersburg to try on the category O'Neill had devised for them.

Rather than pointing to their similarities, their behavior reflected their strong desire to comprehend which category they themselves belong to.

In a rapidly changing world were the traditional parameters of East vs. West, North vs. South and rich vs. poor no longer provide any guidance for rising powers, trying on the "BRIC hat" was merely another episode, yet certainly not the last, in their complex search for their identity and place in a world they will soon rule.

The author is a visiting professor of International Relations at the University of São Paulo. He writes about emerging powers at www.postwesternworld.com. viewpoint@globaltimes.com.cn