Abstract
It is a fact that the notion of the unitary national Sovereign State does not reflect the realities of contemporary international experience adequately. The architects of certain international organizations, particularly those in the area of international trade, recognized this and made formal arrangements to cope with the effects of both self-government, short of independence, and supra-nationalism. To some extent, on the international monetary plane, the IMF also found ways to absorb certain aspects of those realities in a pragmatic way, without having to take recourse to formal adjustments. The present article argues that pragmatism this might have reached its limits and that it is advisable to heed the example set by the institutions in the area international trade, and truly endorse the functional concept of membership in the IMF.