Conditional Cash Transfer Programs in Peru and Bolivia: Between Targeting and Universalization of Social Assistance

Although the political regimes of Alan García (2006-2011) in Peru and Evo Morales (2006-) in Bolivia are very different, they adopt the same type of social policy: conditional transfer programs. Using the qualitative approach of discourse analysis, this article aims to identify the referential of these policies. Emphasizing their differences rather than their similarities, it shows that the selection principles of the program’s beneficiaries – based on targeting in Peru and on a universalizing tendency in Bolivia – prefigure different public policies referential: social investment in Peru and a more national-popular type in Bolivia.