As a fundamental part of the development issue, the theme of structural adjustment lies at the heart of one of the most formidable controversies in contemporary history. Rarely has a question been so much used, exploited, instrumentalized, and worn out as the one surrounding the structural adjustment of economies in the developing world.

Because it deals directly with government policies, it continues to be the subject of exaggerations and unspoken truths even today, nearly twenty years after the implementation of the first programs, which, beyond the validity or weakness of its dynamics, neither favor its position nor the situations it is supposed to address.

There are many examples of countries where the "bitter pill" born from the "Washington Consensus" has proven to be remarkably effective and allowed the concerned economies to extricate themselves from very uncomfortable situations. However, and alongside this, there are just as many cases of countries where following the conduct rules imposed, without any restraint, by the proponents of prevailing liberalism has resulted in equally resounding failures.

This raises the question of why what worked here did not function there? Why did the same logic and dynamic that shone in certain places completely miss the mark in others? It is fundamentally to address such inquiries that this work has been produced.

While it attempts to unravel the tangled web of the ongoing contradictory debate, it has also been carried through to its conclusion so that the reader can have access to the main keys to the problem. Long developments are dedicated to providing a history intended to explain how we arrived at such a situation, as well as a detailed review of the main mechanisms that underlie this true leitmotif of the end of the century that structural adjustment has become over time.