For half a century, social policies in Latin America were characterized by conflict. Well, for the last fifteen years the conflict approach gave place to the consensus one, whether the latter relates to goals (of poverty reduction) or the instruments used for this.This paper examines the origins of the expansion of consensus theories, first in the United States, and then in international organizations (UNDP, World Bank ...), and examines in depth a particular case, the consensus built around the Conditional Cash Transfer Programmes as a privileged way (compared to the "focused policies) to fight poverty. Contrarily to what argue the advocates of consensus, who see it as a "mutual gain" mode of decision, this paper defends the view that the widespread search for consensus leads to the extinction of democracy.
consensus; conditional cash transfer programmes; consensus building; democracy; social policies