The International Symposium “The BRIC countries: Brazil, an emerging power” took place on 7 and 8 April 2011 and attracted over 150 participants from Europe and Latin America. The event was held at the Centre for Brazilian Studies in Salamanca, Spain, and was co-organised by the Ibero-American Institute (Instituto IberoAmericano) of the University of Salamanca and by the Latin-American Institute (Instituto de Latino-América) of the Academy of Sciences in Russia, as part of the network of the European Council for Social Research on Latin America (CEISAL), which includes 50 European institutions involved in Latin-American studies.