Pakistan, June 5 -- The economic constraints imposed by the IMF and the World Bank are crippling by design. Reducing dependence on them and adjusting economic priorities to social needs, rather than competing within the world economic system on the latter's terms, are among the salient features of delinking, a process that may or may not culminate in socialism. "It being understood," Samir warns, "that the socialism in question remains a plan for society, largely ahead of us, and not a reality already achieved." This note of caution alludes to the Chinese model of delinking, a project whose ultimate destiny remains uncertain.

Samir has his own definition of a national capitalist state. For him, "a state is not formally national capitalis...