In New Delhi this week, the leaders of nine nations gathered under the BRICS banner — a coalition born from the ambition of rising economies to rebalance a Western-dominated world order. Yet the summit convenes at a moment when the bloc's expansion, meant to amplify its voice, has instead multiplied its contradictions. Wars, border disputes, and rival ambitions among members old and new have turned what was once a manageable forum into a test of whether shared skepticism of the existing order is enough to hold a coalition together.