1993. Since 1980 Latin American faced a debt crisis and a crisis of the state, which was also a crisis of the developmentalist interpretation. Now, two competing interpretations are present: the neoliberal Washington Consensus and the fiscal crisis of the state approach. English and French versions available. This is a preliminary version of my chapter in Economic Reforms in New Democracies, 1993. The "fiscal crisis approach" anticipates the 2003 "new developmentalism". (Paper: Novos Estudos CEBRAP )*