The paper discusses the recent transition between two modalities of social service provision in Argentina. The analysis tries to ascer tain how much the shift between two economic strategies has changed social policy orientation between 1991 and 2005.

The presentation is organized as follows: the first section depicts the model of Argentina’s social provision until 1991 reforms. Section two discusses the 1990s welfare strategies. The third section analyzes the Plan Jefes y Jefas de Hogar desocupados (Unemployed Household Heads’ Program), the post-devaluation main so cial program. In the last section we discuss the determinants of social policy, its impact on ci tizenship, and the role of social capital and social actors.