But the granting of real political freedoms and a shake-up of the state-dominated economy have not materialised.

It would help liberalize the state-dominated economy, the Americans say.

Uzbekistan's banks have demonstrated reasonably stable performance in a largely state-dominated local economy.

These heavy subsidies have created a state-dominated economy in the Moroccan-controlled parts of Western Sahara.

Salinas did take steps to liberalize the monolithic state-dominated economy.

After years of a state-dominated economy, the mechanisms for private investment, domestic or foreign, are still evolving.

And it is another step by Mexico to prove it wants to transform its state-dominated economy to a market orientation and encourage foreign investment.

North Korea's health system is short on supplies and electricity, mirroring the general dilapidation of the state-dominated economy.

The problem for Iran's ruling clerics is that they cannot provide enough new jobs without privatizing their state-dominated economy and attracting foreign investment.

If there is a central argument, it is perhaps that a successful transformation of the heavily protected and state-dominated economy was impossible without deeper political change.