L. L. FITUNI Doctor of Economics Institute of Africa, Russian Academy of Sciences world economy Keywords:, development models, developing countries, BRICS, multipolarity, catch-up development LEADERS OF CATCH-UP DEVELOPMENT IN THE NEW MODEL OF THE WORLD ECONOMY QUESTIONS OF THEORY, ARTICLE 1 Over the past year, many articles have appeared in the world literature, including in our magazine, mostly of a political-journalistic and reference-informational nature, devoted to BRICS ( BRICS) - the unification of large and populous countries of the world with fast-growing economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). Although it has not yet found its final outlines and continues to search for optimal forms and directions of activity, it is steadily gaining strength and quickly establishing itself in the global economy and politics. At the same time, other groups of countries (MIKT, NEXT-11) are increasingly mentioned in the press, claiming to be promising leaders of catch-up development. The article published below is perhaps one of the first attempts to go further and deeper than the current analysis, and to understand the BRICS phenomenon from the point of view of the theory of the world economy and fundamental economic science, as well as to cover in more detail the constantly discussed issue of "alternative" leaders of the world economy of the XXI century. The object of studying the world economy as a specific branch of economic science is both the development of world productive forces and the relations that arise at the international level in the process of reproduction between its participants. At the same time, knowledge of development problems implies and invariably includes the study of issues of economic competition and competition at the global, regional, country and industry levels - the rise of some actors and the overthrow of others. At present, the world economy is going through another stage of deep restructuring of the established paradigms of ... Read more