Bangladesh, Sept. 6 -- The BRICS+ grouping was once viewed primarily as an ambitious coalition of emerging economies seeking a larger voice in a Western-dominated international system. Today, it is becoming something considerably more consequential-and considerably more difficult to manage.

With its membership expanding from the original five countries to a much broader coalition, BRICS+ now represents a substantial share of the worlds population, territory, energy resources and economic potential. Yet its growing geopolitical weight has brought an uncomfortable reality into sharper focus: the bigger BRICS+ becomes, the harder it may be to agree on what the organization actually stands for.

That contradiction will be at the center of th...