IMF Executive Board has approved $6 billion Extended Fund Facility for Pakistan with its textbook stipulations: macroeconomic adjustment and structural reforms. The detailed agreement shows that IMF is specific on stability measures but generic on systemic transformation. Does it mean we are heading toward another short run pain without any long run gain? In the absence of a long-term growth strategy, short-term stability measures will be ad hoc and arbitrary, and will lead us nowhere. One may ask if structural reform is the need of the hour, why it does not happen. The question is simple but the answer is profound. It suggests the presence of forces that preserve the status quo. The mess we are in is by design and not by default. In Shakespearean eloquence, there is a method to this madness. Therefore, the debate on reform must begin with identification of barriers to change. The dictum ‘history is inescapable’ is nowhere more true than in Pakistan. Our state machinery is still a colonial construct; extractive institutions are perfect manifestations of path dependency; and a citizen’s relationship with the state is one of fear and alienation. Post-partition circumstances raised legitimate doubts about Pakistan’s survival, and since then the state policy has been driven by national security rather than public welfare. The biggest challenge is to get rid of colonial legacy and change state orientation from security to welfare. Antonio Gramsci, an Italian Marxist philosopher, coined the term cultural hegemony to describe how elite propagates its own beliefs, values, norms, and interests as common sense to maintain the status quo. The Pakistani elite has successfully distorted history, manipulated religion, exploited ‘national interest’, managed intelligentsia, and targeted ethnic and religious minorities to spread its ideology. The outcome is submissive and obsequious masses inflicted with the Stockholm syndrome where they blame themselves for systemic problems. Hence, breaking ideological chains will be a key task to build enough public pressure for structural transformation. Our state machinery is still a colonial construct; extractive institutions are perfect manifestations of path dependency Though Mohammad Iqbal said, “Sabaathaitaghayyurkozamane main” (change is the only constant), resistance to change is built in our social fabric. Pakistan was created by modernists of Aligarh, but it has been shaped by traditionalists of Deoband. It becomes difficult to change for a better future when the ideal is rooted in the past. This mindset cultivates reverence for the convention, and inhibits the spirit of independent inquiry. The controversy over moon sighting is not an isolated event but symbolises a general fear of change, rejection of science, and obsession with medieval theology. As long as we fear the new, and insist upon old, reform will remain only an illusion. Economic development is a process of exploring better ways to organise and coordinate i.e. it is learning by trial and error while experimenting with new ideas. However, Pakistan lacks mechanisms to generate and evaluate ideas. The state does not invest in R&D; ministries rely on donor reports rather than ‘wasting time’ on research; academia incentivises mediocrity; and corporate media has created ‘experts’ suitable only for higher ratings. Ideas, bedrock of any reform process, live and prosper when they are shared and discussed, and the challenge is to create a culture of research and debate. Pakistan’s political landscape lacks progressive forces. Electoral slogans and promises aside, no mainstream political party has a genuinely progressive economic agenda. All we have at offering is different variants of neoliberal capitalism fighting over piecemeal changes here and there while preserving the overall structure. The above-mentioned barriers may look abstract and academic, but their presence is very real and has significant practical implications. Take any issue, ranging from balance-of-payments constraint on growth to lack of women participation in the economy or dysfunctional tax regime to rejection of science, scratch the surface and you will find one or more of them as the underlying reasons. Any attempt on structural reform that shies away from overcoming these barriers will be hollow and bound to fail. Note: These are the views of the writer and do not reflect institutional policy The author is Assistant Director in research department at State Bank of Pakistan